REECE JAMES was left ‘devastated’ after hobbling out of Chelsea’s victory over Bournemouth with a knee injury on his return to action.
The Chelsea right-back was forced to miss the World Cup with a knee problem.
But James has been hard at work recovering and joined the rest of his Blues team-mates in Abu Dhabi for their mid-season training camp.
And James featured in their friendly against Brentford last week after making a successful return to training.
He was put straight back into the side by Graham Potter for the first time since injuring his knee against AC Milan.
James showed few signs of rustiness during the opening period, but disaster struck in the 53rd minute when he was forced off.
He had signalled to the bench about his knee on a couple of occasions.
And was then eventually replaced by Cesar Azpilicueta.
Team-mate Havertz, who scored the Blues’ opener in a 2-0 win, told talkSPORT after the game that James was “devastated in the dressing room” after the game.
He already missed NINE games in all comps after suffering the injury in the Champions League.
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And Potter will be hoping it’s nothing serious this time with some key games coming up.
Speaking after the game, when asked if he knew too much about the injury the Blues boss said: “Not too much, no.
“We’re going to have to see in the next 24-48 hours, but disappointing to lose him as quick as we did.”
Chelsea face Manchester City twice in the space of four days next month and also travel to Liverpool before the end of January.
Another lengthy layoff could also put James in danger of missing the last-16 Champions League first leg tie with Borussia Dortmund in 15 February.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
