Aston Villa’s next Premier League fixture sees them take on Chelsea at Villa Park on Sunday.
Looking ahead to this showdown, it seems as though the Midlands club may have been indirectly handed a potential injury boost which could have an impact on their chances of securing a positive result against Graham Potter’s side.
What’s the news?
During the second half of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night, Reece James limped off the pitch having picked up a suspected knee injury, as reported by Sami Mokbel for The Daily Mail.
The right-back has been a key figure for the west London club this season, having started six of their first eight league games.
James’ influence at Chelsea
Across those six matches, the Englishman has delivered more crosses (18) than any other Chelsea player, while only Mason Mount (15) and Raheem Sterling (11) have played more key passes than him among Potter’s squad. From a defensive point of view, only Conor Gallagher (12) has won more tackles than James (10).
This shows just how difficult an opponent the 22-year-old right-back can be in terms of his attacking and defensive talents. It also highlights how much of a miss he would be for Chelsea at the weekend if he’s not fit enough to play.
Therefore, this would be one less aspect of Sunday’s opponents for Steven Gerrard to worry about.
With Potter saying after the match on Tuesday that it would take a day or two to figure out the full extent of this potential injury blow to James, everyone at Chelsea will surely be hoping that the youngster won’t be out of action for a significant period of time, especially with the World Cup around the corner.
For Villa, though, Gerrard will still need to ensure that his side have enough about them on the day to try and grab a positive result against their in-form opponents.
