The knee injury sustained by Reece James in Chelsea's victory over AC Milan is worse than initially feared and the wing-back faces a race to be fit for the World Cup in Qatar, football.london understands.
James went down in the second half of Wednesday night's 2-0 victory at San Siro following a fairly innocuous challenge on Theo Hernandez. The academy graduate required treatment on the pitch and did try to continue. But he was soon replaced by Cesar Azpilicueta.
The early indications were the injury wasn't serious. Not only was James able to join his teammates on the pitch to celebrate after the full-time whistle but he remained in Milan on Wednesday to explore the city rather than make an immediate return to Cobham for tests and treatment.
