Setback: Reece James was distraught as he was forced off on his return from a knee injury for Chelsea
(Picture: REUTERS)Graham Potter insists it is too early to assess the severity of an injury setback suffered by Reece James in Chelsea’s win over Bournemouth.
The Blues’ star right-back started at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night for the first time since suffering the serious knee ligament injury in a Champions League fixture with AC Milan in October that forced him to miss England’s World Cup campaign in Qatar.
And James impressed in the first half of a much-needed 2-0 victory that ended a run of three consecutive defeats for Chelsea dating back before the mid-season break, providing a real, consistent threat down the right flank and linking up particularly well with Raheem Sterling.
However, his return ended on a real sour note less than 10 minutes after half-time as he pulled up hurt and then appeared to point to his knee as he went down in some pain and anguish with a hand draped across his face.
A distraught James received treatment and was able to walk off under his own power as he was immediately replaced against Bournemouth by club captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
It was another cruel blow for the 23-year-old, who has been back in Chelsea training for weeks now and played 65 minutes of a behind-closed-doors friendly against Brentford B last week.
“Not too much, no,” Chelsea manager Potter told Amazon Prime Video when asked if he had any update on James’ injury after the match.
“We’re going to have to see in the next 24, 48 hours, but it was disappointing to lose him as quickly as we did.”
Asked a similar question by BBC Sport, the Chelsea boss replied: “I’m not sure on the state of the injury. Too early to say. You can see his quality. It’s a blow for us. Fingers crossed. We’ll see how bad it is.”
