Chelsea will be without their captain Reece James again. After picking up an injury in training ahead of this weekend’s Premier League clash.

The 24-year-old full-back only returned to action in October and made four appearances. Before suffering a hamstring injury in training ahead of this weekend’s trip to Leicester.

“We have one injury problem and that is Reese, he has a hamstring injury and we certainly don’t want to take any risks this weekend.

He is one of the players who will be out for sure. It is a muscular problem, hopefully it is not more serious than we thought.”

“It’s not easy for him, I know that, but every time you have an injury, it’s something that no one likes. He has to accept it and try to avoid it as much as possible. But sometimes it happens,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said.

He added: “[It’s his] hamstring. It’s a muscular problem. โปรโมชั่น ufabet We don’t want to take any risks for this weekend and hopefully it’s not something long.”

It’s a huge blow for James, who was one of the players pictured training with the rest of the Chelsea squad earlier this week. The Blues captain has only featured four times this campaign, playing 241 minutes of action in the Premier League.

Maresca confirmed that James picked up the injury on Tuesday, with the Chelsea boss currently not sure how long the 24-year-old will be sidelined for. “No, as I said, he felt something. He has to be out, for sure this weekend and then we’ll see. At the moment we don’t know how long. Then we’ll see,” Maresca said.

James has been in the club’s first-team since 2021 and has impressed enough to be given the captain’s armband. However, a series of injuries have limited him to a number of games, with him playing just 482 minutes last season.