Enzo Maresca confirms fresh Reece James injury blow

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has revealed captain Reece James has returned to the sidelines after suffering another hamstring injury earlier this week.

James, who saw injuries restrict him to just 11 appearances in all competitions last season, missed the start of Maresca’s debut campaign with a hamstring problem, but managed three starts and another outing off the bench before the international break.

Unfortunately, James’ comeback has been brought to an abrupt halt because of what Maresca hopes to be a minor hamstring issue.

“We have just one injured player, that is Reece,” Maresca told the press ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Leicester City. “Unfortunately, he felt something small and we don’t want to take any risks for the weekend.

“Hamstring. It’s a muscular problem. We don’t want to take any risks for this weekend. Hopefully it’s not something long.”

Confirming James’ injury came just two days ago, Maresca added: “He felt something, he has to be out, for sure this weekend and then we’ll see. We don’t know for how long.

“If every time he gets an injury, it becomes hard for him [mentally], that’s even worse. He has to accept that. He has to try and avoid as much as he can but sometimes things happen even if you want to avoid that.”

In more positive news, Maresca confirmed the likes of Jadon Sancho, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia have all made progress with their respective injury concerns.

“Some of them are better, some of them are still doubts,” Maresca said. “We need to wait because [Thursday] is the first session we do with all the international players.”