What Reece James did during Chelsea win vs West Ham speaks volumes in Enzo Maresca injury crisis
It is almost 12 months since Chelsea last won a Premier League game that Reece James started. It is already two years since they went back-to-back with him involved. For consecutive away victories with James, which Enzo Maresca just achieved for the first time since last October, you have to go back to November 2021.
As the Chelsea captain once more sat out while his boyhood club were in action, it was telling just what James was up to. Enzo Fernandez led the Blues out at West Ham on Saturday, acting as stand-in skipper, and Moises Caicedo took the armband in the second half.
James, on the other hand, was at home. He did not travel to the game with his teammates and instead was in the gym. Posting online at the time of the match, James simply uploaded an image to his Instagram story of himself sweating, no doubt working toward a long-awaited recovery.
Maresca is not hopeful of having the 24-year-old back soon though. "Wait until he's fit," he said bluntly when asked about James' condition. "It's a bit delayed but the most important thing for him, for any injury, is that they come back when they are 100% fit. Reece is still out."
He is yet to play this season having been banned for the opening three domestic games anyway. James could have featured in the Conference League though but has instead been frustrated by yet another setback.
Despite playing a large role on the tour of America, James picked up another knock and is yet to be seen in action since. "Unfortunately we do not have an idea at the moment," Maresca continued, addressing when James might be back. "In terms of injuries in the past, we always hope that we can find the right solution.
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"In this case, it has been very unlucky. We planned on changing him after 65 minutes and he got the injury on 62 or 63. Hopefully, we can have him back as soon as possible and fit."
In his place, Malo Gusto has been deputising once more. However, the Frenchman himself was ruled out for the trip to the London Stadium at the weekend with a hamstring problem.
Maresca chose Wesley Fofana as a makeshift replacement at right-back for the trip but even he was seen hobbling at full-time having spent much of the past three years out with injury too. The Chelsea head coach downplayed worries around Fofana though.
"No, no, no [it's not serious]," he told football.london. "The reason why we changed him is because we try to protect him a little bit. In the second half, they changed [Mohammed] Kudus to this side and it was probably a big risk to keep him but there is not any injury.
"Wes is a player I really love and we love with Wes because he is doing fantastic after one year of injury. For any player that is out for a year, it is not easy and he is doing top. This is the only thing we want from him."