Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed right-back Reece James will start the Blues’ Carabao Cup fourth round clash with Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday.
James, the club captain, limped off in the first game of the season with a hamstring problem which saw him miss nine games in all competitions before a return off the bench for the final six minutes of the 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
A further 23 minutes late on in the defeat to Brentford would follow for James but Pochettino has now confirmed the right-back will be back in the starting lineup on Wednesday.
“I can confirm that he is going to start,” Pochettino told Tuesday’s press conference. “I am going to confirm only one player and yes it is the captain.
“He is ready. It is good for him and for the team to start from the beginning of the game.”
On the other side of defence, Chelsea remain without left-back Ben Chilwell, who has travelled to Los Angeles to continue working on his own hamstring problem.
“It was the plan for the club to change the scenario for him because it is a period he needs to be out.” the boss explained. “This happens at different clubs, like [when I was] at Tottenham and Southampton.
“When there is a long period of recovery sometimes you want to change the scenery for the player, to provide because to spend 12 hours here every day… it is a fantastic training ground but some times the player needs to change the atmosphere to recover in a good way.”
Pochettino is taking the Carabao Cup incredibly seriously as he seeks to win his first trophy in England and snap Chelsea out of their funk.
“I told you before we started the season, I think a competition like the Carabao Cup or FA Cup is really important for us,” he said. “Tomorrow we are going to try and play with our best team. Some players that maybe we need to rest because we need to do some rest because after Saturday’s game, we cannot take some risk. In general we are going to try to put our our best team.”
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