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Chelsea have been handed a major blow with their captain Reece James being withdrawn from the national team due to injury. The defender was initially called up for Thomas Tuchel's original squad for the October internationals against Wales and Latvia.
However, the 25-year-old suffered an injury during Chelsea's 2-1 victory against Liverpool. As reported by BBC Sport, he has therefore been withdrawn from the England squad for the next two games.
With James withdrawn from the side, Manchester City youngster Nico O'Reilly has been named as the replacement. England face Wales at Wembley on Thursday, 9 October in an Alzheimer's Society International. They will then travel to Riga to take on Latvia in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, 14 October.
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Reece James has struggled with persistent injury problems over the last few years. Since making his debut for the Blues in 2019, he has missed a total of 145 games with various injury problems.
The right-back has missed 98 games with injuries in the last three seasons but stayed injury free so far this season. Losing him to injury will be a major blow to Enzo Maresca's side.
James has made nine appearances across competitions for Chelsea this season providing one assist. He has made 199 appearances for the Blues till date scoring 14 times while producing 25 assists.
Enzo Maresca is currently facing a severe injury crisis, and his defence has been the worst-hit department. Currently, they have ten players out with injuries, including James.
Jamie Carragher disagrees with Gary Neville and names Premier League midfielder better than Chelsea star Moises Caicedo
Jamie Carragher has claimed that he believes Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice is better than Chelsea's Moises Caicedo. The Liverpool icon disagreed with his colleague Gary Neville's claim that Caicedo is the best midfielder in the Premier League.
Following Chelsea's 2-1 win against Liverpool, Neville hailed Caicedo as the best midfielder in the Premier League right now. Neville told Sky Sports:
“He’s the best midfield player in the league at this moment in time. And I think I’m comfortable saying that. Gravenberch last season, and maybe Declan Rice and Rodri obviously, for the last few years.“ But now, I think at this time, we can say that Caicedo is the best midfield player in the league, and he’s performing like that.”
However, Carragher disagreed with Neville and insisted that Rice is better than Caicedo as he is much more well-rounded. He said:
“He’s very close. He wouldn’t be the best for me. You’re talking about all-round midfield player, I would say Declan Rice would just pip him for me. I just think he’s got an extra little bit of quality with the ball.”
Both Rice and Caicedo have been exceptional for Arsenal and Chelsea respectively this season. The former has one goal and three assists in 10 games this season while the latter has three goals in nine games.
