Alarm bells are ringing among Chelsea fans online after the squad for today’s game against Wolves was announced.
The Blues have a lot of their players back – but one notable absence. Reece James isn’t even on the bench.
James’ situation continues to mystify as captain misses out again
Simon Johnson's Tweet about the decision to rest Reece James.
Simon Johnson’s Tweet about the decision to rest Reece James.
This isn’t a resting situation – James was rested last weekend against West Ham. He came on in the 81st minute for a quick run around.
When he wasn’t in the squad for Tuesday’s game against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, we were all told before kick off by the journalists being briefed by the club that it was just a case of minute management. That made no sense really, given James had played so little against West Ham.
Manager Liam Rosenior then said that the defender just had a “small knock,” and in his press conference on Thursday that James was training as normal.
Well if he’s taking a fitness test on the Tuesday, meaning he’s on the verge of playing, surely he will be back for a game on Saturday?
It appears not. James is not even on the bench. We’re sure we will get an update from Rosenior at some point this afternoon. We’re still hopeful that the right back is available for Leeds on Tuesday. Perhaps this spell without games will actually benefit him later in the season? That’s the positive spin.
In other news…
Chelsea’s team for the game has no James, but has some interesting choices in other areas. Andrey Santos looks to have his place locked up.
Liam Rosenior has defended Alejandro Garnacho after a poor first half performance last week, and we reckon he will try to give him some minutes today to allow him to recover
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Liam Rosenior with his players at full time.