Chelsea will have their main man back and available for selection for the return of domestic action to Stamford Bridge on December 27. The Blues face newly promoted Bournemouth in their first match back after the World Cup and need to get off to a good start having lost four of their last five league fixtures.
The poor run of form has seen Graham Potter's side drop to eighth in the table, eight points behind Spurs in fourth place but with a game in hand. Ahead of matches against Manchester City and Liverpool in January though, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest offer a chance of picking up points before the pressure starts to mount once more.
Luckily for Potter he will be able to rely on perhaps the most important player in the squad as Reece James was confirmed as being available for the match. James has been out since early October after injuring his knee in the away win against AC Milan at San Siro.
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The 23-year-old was starting to hit top form once more on the right-hand-side and has been the toughest player to replace in the squad over the past two years during lengthy injuries. Potter himself found this out and the run of defeats all came without James available.
Despite some of James' teammates remaining sidelined with their own blows, Potter revealed that the defender would be back in contention ahead of the match, saying, "Reece [James] is back in and completed 65 minutes in the week."
Chelsea stepped up their preparation for the Premier League match with a friendly against Brentford earlier this week. James was involved, as Potter explained, but didn't play in the warm-weather training friendly against Aston Villa last week. He has been training for nearly two weeks though and offers balance once more for Potter.
Chelsea won the behind-closed-doors match 5-1 with a hattrick from Kai Havertz but paid the price with another blow for Wesley Fofana. The Frenchman has been out for one week longer than James with his own knee issue and suffered a reoccurrence of that at Cobham.
Fofana has played just four times since his big-money move to Stamford Bridge over the summer and is one of several defensive headaches for Potter to solve, with Ben Chilwell also out and Thiago Silva returning from Qatar but having played more than any of his teammates so far this season.
James being available at least offers a crumb of comfort for the match, but injuries continuing to plague the side remain a thorn to Potter as he looks to stamp authority on the squad.
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