James hopeful injury is ´not a bad one´ with World Cup on horizon

Reece James is hopeful that an injury sustained during Chelsea’s 2-0 Champions League victory against AC Milan is “not a bad one”, with the World Cup on the horizon.

After an awkward landing, the 22-year-old England international had to be brought off the pitch on the hour mark – raising further concerns for the Three Lions ahead of the tournament in Qatar, after Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up a knock in Liverpool’s defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.

James took to social media to address the worries about his injury and, while unable to offer any decisive updates, shared hope that he will not be sidelined for an extensive period.

He said: “Fingers crossed it’s not a bad one. Love for all the messages, I appreciate you all.”

Fingers crossed it’s not a bad one Love for all the messages, I appreciate you all pic.twitter.com/2DvHS5r4lM

— Reece James (@ReeceJames) October 11, 2022

Graham Potter was unsure as to the extent of James’ injury, stating he was unable to provide an outlook until further tests are done this week.

“We’re hoping Reece will be OK. It will be 24, 48 hours to find out, so it’s too early to give you anything more than that,” he said in his post-match press conference.

The Blues’ win marked an end to a run of seven winless away trips to Italian teams in the Champions League, a record that stretched back to 2003, and leaves Chelsea sat top of Group E with fixtures against RB Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb to come.

Potter added: “To come here and win is certainly not easy, that is for sure. Credit to the players. They were really good, I thought.”

Chelsea travel to face Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday, beginning a sequence of three league games in six days with fixtures against Brentford and Manchester United on the horizon.