Chelsea star could be ruled out until January due to injury - Reports

Chelsea could be without right-back Reece James for over a month after the England international suffered an injury against Manchester City on Saturday.

Reece James limped off with an injury after just half an hour in the Blues' 1-0 loss to Pep Guardiola's side in the Premier League.

According to injury expert Ben Dinnery, Reece James is set to be ruled out of action for at least a month but could be out of action until January.

"It was the biggest injury of the weekend in terms of the chatter on my timeline, he's a high-profile player. In terms of the impact on Chelsea, I don't see it having huge potential implications. He certainly wasn't a guaranteed starter in the Premier League," Dinnery told Football Insider.

"He offers Thomas Tuchel another option in that backline, but if Thiago Silva hadn't picked up that knock prior to the game against Manchester City then Reece James wouldn't have been in that starting XI anyway.

"Tuchel will speak ahead of Chelsea's Champions League fixture with Juventus and he may or may not offer a bit of insight into what's going on with James."

Dinnery added:

"Just by looking at that coming together with Jack Grealish, that external rotation, it looks as if there’s a problem there. That suggests it could be, looking at the database, the average return to play is in and around 50-60 days.

"The shortest we have on record is around 25-28 days but the longest we’ve got exceeds 100 days."

Reece James enjoyed an impressive start to the 2021-22 Premier League campaign, scoring one goal and providing two assists in Chelsea's opening three league fixtures.

The right-back then received a red card against Liverpool which ruled him out of the game against Aston Villa.

The 22-year-old returned to Chelsea's starting line-up against Manchester City on Saturday, but was unable to make an impact on the game as he was taken off after just half an hour.

Thomas Tuchel could use Callum Hudson-Odoi as a makeshift right wing-back in the absence of Reece James

Chelsea v Manchester City - Premier League

Cesar Azpilicueta is likely to slot in as the right wing-back in Chelsea starting XI in the absence of Reece James.

The Spaniard does not, however, possess the same pace, attacking qualities, and crossing abilities as Reece James.

Thomas Tuchel could therefore play youth product Callum Hudson-Odoi as a makeshift right-back until Reece James returns from injury.

The winger was deployed as a right wing-back on several occasions last season by the former Borussia Dortmund coach.