Chelsea have confirmed Wesley Fofana and Reece James will continue their rehabilitation programme in Dubai this week.
Fofana, who picked up a knee injury in the home victory over AC Milan earlier in the month, is expected to be sidelined for a few more weeks because of the issue. Meanwhile, James could miss the World Cup after also picking up a knee injury, but this time away to Milan.
Chelsea, when writing a statement on the club's official website, have handed supporters an update on the defensive duo's fitness. The statement read: "Reece James and Wesley Fofana will continue their rehabilitation programmes this week in Dubai. A member of the Chelsea medical department will accompany them."
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The Blues are missing the pair, but other players have perhaps raised their game in recent weeks to ease the pain somewhat. Trevoh Chalobah has done a fine job on the right-hand side of the three at the back. Cesar Azpilicueta has also improved.
However, Chelsea were poor on Saturday afternoon as they suffered their first defeat in the Graham Potter era rather ironically at Brighton, where the 47-year-old came from. Goals from Leandro Trossard and Pascal Gross, as well as own goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Chalobah ensured Kai Havertz's second-half strike was nothing but a consolation.
"As I said to the players, if you lose, you have to look at it, and if you've made a mistake or got things wrong, you have to analyse it and do better," Potter said after the game. "That is part of our job, part of the process, and if we've got that wrong, I have to take responsibility and do better. I'd rather look at it from that perspective.
"You have to congratulate Brighton as well. They did what they do well. We had some opportunities ourselves, and the scoreline makes it feel a little bit worse than it was in terms of us having opportunities and touches in the box that were similar to them.
"They have a couple of own goals. We have a couple of chances. In the end, it felt probably a little bit too open for us, and that is my responsibility."
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