Will Reece James start against Liverpool? Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca issues Cole Palmer plan for Blues captain
10/20/2024 10:00 AM
Reece James is set to make his first competitive appearance for Chelsea under Enzo Maresca.
The Blues' club captain has been plagued by injuries throughout his career with fitness issues sidelining him for the entirety of this season so far.
However, with a huge clash against Liverpool, James could be set to make his long-awaited return to the pitch.
Here, talkSPORT.com takes a look at the latest on the right-back…
Will James be fit to play against Liverpool?
Enzo Maresca has confirmed that James is available to play against Liverpool and the defender could even start.
The Chelsea boss revealed that James has been training with the rest of the Blues squad over the international break.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, he said: We finally are all available. We have a fully fit squad available for selection.
“Reece James is available. He is back, he worked with us all the international break. Finally, he is back.”
Maresca then went into more detail on James' condition and how Chelsea are going to manage his workload.
And Cole Palmer's plan is going to be used to help him out.
Palmer was unexpectedly left out of the Blues' Europa Conference League squad for the League Phase, along with Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana.
However, it was explained that the trio were omitted to protect them from injuries and avoid an overload of minutes by not playing in the competition.
James was included in that squad but now Maresca has confirmed that the same plan is now going to be implemented for the right-back.
“Reece’s body cannot play for instance twice a week so one of the solutions is that we are going to try and manage him the same way we are doing with Romeo [Lavia]," the Italian said.
“In this moment I think this can be the solution [to play him once a week]. In the future? I don’t know.
“The solution is to go slowly, slowly.
“In the future, we may be able to use him in the week but in this moment we need to use him once a week.”
It means James will only be featuring in Premier League games on the weekend and his first back on the pitch could be against Liverpool.
Premier League Match Odds with talkSPORT BET
Saturday, October 19
- Tottenham 9/20 – Draw 15/4 – West Ham 19/4
- Fulham 13/10 – Draw 5/2 – Aston Villa 9/5
- Ipswich 11/8 – Draw 12/5 – Everton 9/5
- Man Utd 8/13 – Draw 16/5 – Brentford 18/5
- Newcastle 20/21 – Draw 29/10 – Brighton 23/10
- Southampton 13/10 – Draw 5/2 – Leicester 9/5
- Bournemouth 15/4 – Draw 29/10 – Arsenal 13/20
Sunday, October 20
Monday, October 21
*odds subject to change, 18+ gambleaware.org
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