Mauricio Pochettino insists Reece James will not be rushed back from the hamstring injury that has disrupted his season, even if a delayed return costs him a place in England’s Euro 2024 squad.
The club captain has made just eight Premier League appearances this campaign and is at risk of missing out on a second international tournament in as many years, having been ruled out of the 2022 World Cup with a knee problem.
He featured only 16 times in the league last season when a combination of knee and hamstring injuries kept him on the sidelines for club and country.
And after being forced off during August’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool he has had even worse luck this term.
The 24-year-old, who has only once in his Chelsea career reached 30 league appearances in a season, teased on social media this week that “the comeback is coming” and has returned to the training pitch, albeit working separately from his team-mates.
However, with a history of recurring fitness problems, Pochettino was understandably cautious about reintroducing him and was adamant he would not be hurried back for the sake of his international place.
“I cannot say the date of when it’s possible,” said the Argentinian. “His target and our target is for him to be fit and feel happy and well. Then we’ll see about the possibility of going to the Euros or not, or to be ready for next season or to play before we finish this season.
“The most important thing now is to build his confidence, his physical condition, to recover all the good feelings.
“The target is not to try and play the last five games or in the Euros or pre-season. The target is to build again his confidence and to feel strong, then to start to play when he feels strong and can deal again with the competition.”
Despite establishing himself as a key figure for Chelsea when fit, James has so far made just a single major tournament appearance, starting for Gareth Southgate’s side in a goalless draw with Scotland at Euro 2020.
He looked set to be a member of the squad in Qatar until a knee injury in a Champions League match against AC Milan scuppered his chances.
“I didn’t speak with (Southgate),” said Pochettino. “But we have spoken people involved in (the FA), medical, performance people.
“It’s not ‘now I can go on the pitch, I can play’. It’s to be sure we can go to the competition and he can feel strong and can forget all that has happened in the past.”
James will be one of seven players unavailable to Pochettino at Brentford on Saturday.
Injures have severely disrupted the seasons of Christopher Nkunku, Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu and Carney Chukwuemeka, whilst Wesley Fofana is likely to be forced to miss the entire campaign.
The manager reiterated his frustration at the impact injuries have had on his first season in charge.
“When you start the season, you put in your head the idea of the potential of the squad,” he said. “When you think about Nkunku, Reece, (Ben) Chilwell or Fofana, Lavia, (Moises) Caicedo, you imagine the players in the best place, with all their potential.
“Then when the circumstances happen, of course it’s about translating the reality. If you go back and say ‘no, you said we can play to win the Premier League’ – when you see the possibility that you have with the squad, then of course.
“But then with the circumstance, the reality, we’ve had 10, 12 players every single week out. That will affect the performance of the team.”
Emery has no complaints after tired Aston Villa lose late on at Brighton
Unai Emery accepts Aston Villa can have no complaints over their 1-0 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.
The Villans fell to a narrow defeat at the Amex Stadium on Sunday as Joao Pedro converted late on after his initial penalty attempt was saved.
Villa looked sluggish throughout yet were just minutes away from claiming a point that would have further boosted their top-four prospects.
John McGinn also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside, but Emery admits his side were not deserving of a point on their travels.
"We competed but it was not enough," he told BBC Sport. "We weren't strong enough in 90 minutes to deserve anything more than we achieved.
"Now the most important thing is to rest, to rest today, rest tomorrow, after the match.
"We are having an amazing season, brilliant, but of course we are at the last chance and we have to try and give everything."
Villa remain seven points clear of fifth-place Tottenham, albeit having played a game more, after Spurs' 4-2 loss at Liverpool.
Before focus can turn to the Villans' home match with Liverpool in a week's time, they first travel to Olympiacos for their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg.
Emery's men have a major task on their hands if they are to reach the final as they trail 4-2 from last week's first leg at Villa Park.
"We want to put in a good effort on Thursday [against Olympiakos] and on Monday against Liverpool. Now is time to rest," Emery added.
"We had a lot of players injured and they are recovering. The most important thing is to get players back for balance and to be competitive."
Victory for Brighton was much needed after going six without a win in the Premier League, failing to score in four of those matches.
While Roberto De Zerbi was pleased to get back to winning ways, he accepts Brighton were given a helping hand by Villa's quick turnaround in games.
"To be honest, Villa were not themselves, maybe a little tired," he said. "They are playing in the Europa Conference League and they have a lot of injuries.
"I am proud because we played a great game against one of the best teams in the Premier League. Playing against Unai Emery's teams is very tough.
"We played well, we deserved to win and we could have scored more goals. I think Robin Olsen was the best player for Villa."
Declan Rice loss to blame for heavy West Ham defeats - David Moyes
Declan Rice's absence is to blame for a number of heavy West Ham defeats this season, according to manager David Moyes.
West Ham sold captain and influential midfielder Rice to Arsenal last July for a club-record fee rising to £105million with add-ons.
The Hammers have seen results nosedive since the turn of the year, most recently crashing to a 5-0 defeat away at Chelsea on Sunday.
That was the sixth time West Ham have conceded four or more goals away from home this season, and their fifth loss in six away games overall.
Asked at his post-match press conference exactly why his side are on the end of heavy losses so frequently of late, Moyes said: "Declan Rice."
The Scotsman, due to be out of contract next month, added: "You get the best midfield player in the country, protecting, making sure the moments and times you limit maybe 50 per cent of the attacks.
"It makes you a much better defensive team when you get that. We've lacked protection in front of the back four; we've lacked good enough defending; we've not been good enough on those things in many games.
"You've got to be careful. You're talking about a team sitting in a really, really strong position. We've had a couple of bad days away from home, which we have to try and eradicate and make better.
"I'm trying to put a bit of mental toughness when we need it. The teams I normally prepare would normally have it. You could always lose the way you lose."
West Ham have won just one of their past nine Premier League games, seeing them slip down to ninth place and now out of the top-six running.
United have also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their past 16 in the competition - only the second time they have done so in a single Premier League season.
The poor run of form, which also includes elimination from the Europa League at the hands of a strong Bayer Leverkusen side, has raised doubts over Moyes' future at London Stadium.
Amid suggestions that former Real Madrid and Spain boss Julen Lopetegui has already been lined up, Moyes reiterated he will wait until after the season to hold talks over his future.
"I'm going to talk to the board at the end of the season, so we’ll do that then," he said.
Allegri admits to regrets as Juventus slump continues
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri admitted to having regrets after the Bianconeri missed the chance to close the gap to second-placed Milan in Sunday's Serie A draw with Roma.
Romelu Lukaku put Roma ahead early on at the Stadio Olimpico but Bremer's header dragged Juventus level before the break, as two teams vying for a top-five finish cancelled each other out.
Juventus have now won just two of their last 14 league games, and Allegri reacted to the final whistle on Sunday by storming off the bench and throwing his jacket to the ground in frustration.
Speaking to DAZN after the game, Allegri said: "There are regrets, naturally we could've done better during this period, but football is vicious like that, sometimes it just doesn't go your way.
"We risked losing a game that we were in a position to win at the start of the second half."
Despite four consecutive Serie A draws, Juventus remain six points clear of fifth-placed Roma and nine ahead of Atalanta in sixth – though La Dea have two games in hand.
With Italy guaranteed five Champions League qualification places for next season, they remain in a strong position to return to Europe's premier club competition, while they are also due to face Atalanta in the Coppa Italia final on May 15.
"The important thing now is to concentrate on the next game, as that is the match point for the Champions League, then we have the Coppa Italia final," Allegri said.
"The club will evaluate at the end of the season, naturally there are some solid foundations for Juve, but we were missing players like [Paul] Pogba, [Nicolo] Fagioli and of course [Federico] Chiesa was on and off."
Despite Juventus enjoying a broadly positive campaign after finishing seventh in 2022-23, when they were hampered by a 10-point deduction after an investigation into their historical financial dealings, Allegri's position has been called into question lately.
Asked about his own future, he said: "I don't know, you'd have to ask the club.
"The important thing is for us to focus on the Coppa Italia final and hopefully, we’ll come back here with the Champions League already achieved."
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