Chelsea captain Reece James is set for a spell on the sidelines.
Chelsea have suffered an injury blow to one of their key stars amid the battle for Champions League qualification.
The Stamford Bridge side have slipped out of the Premier League top five after their 1-0 loss to Newcastle United last weekend. Liverpool moved ahead of Chelsea in the table, albeit failing to take full advantage as the Reds could only draw 1-1 with struggling Tottenham Hotspur.
With eight matches remaining, there may be little margin for error, with Aston Villa fourth but have lost their past three games, most recently a 3-1 defeat by third-placed Manchester United.
And for the upcoming period, Chelsea will be without Reece James. The Blues’ captain has sustained a hamstring issue and is set to be unavailable for at least a couple of weeks. James has had well-documented fitness woes and had started five of Chelsea’s past six games before his latest setback.
Before Chelsea’s Champions League last 16 second-leg against Paris Saint-Germain, in which they trail 5-2 on aggregate after the first encounter in the French capital, head coach Liam Rosenior said: “With Reece, he felt something in his hamstring at the end of the game against Newcastle. Really frustrating and disappointing one for us. We don’t know the full extent of that injury.
“With a hamstring injury, it’s never great. Hopefully, we can just get him scanned, we can find out the full extent and then we know more. We know what an important player he is, what an important leader he is.”
Levi Colwill (ACL), Jamie Gittens (hamstring) and Filip Jorgensen (groin) will also be absent against PSG, while Malo Gusto is a doubt because of illness. Estevao Willian has returned to training, however, which will give Chelsea a boost. They play Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have been hit with a £10.75 million fine for breaching Premier League rules. The club were found guilty of making undisclosed payments by third parties associated with the club, to players, unregistered agents and other third parties between 2011-2018.
As well as their fine, Chelsea have been sanctioned by the Premier League with an immediate nine-month Academy transfer ban and a suspended one-year first-team player transfer ban (suspended for two years).
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