Reece James, Carney Chukwuemeka doubtful for Arsenal clash — report

We have some tentative and unconfirmed early team news of less than strongest sourcing ahead of this weekend’s match against Arsenal, with a Twitter report claiming that both Reece James and Carney Chukwuemeka are dealing with (minor?) setbacks in their attempts to return from hamstring and knee injuries, respectively.

Both players have been out since August, with James featuring just once and Chukwuemeka featuring just twice this season. Both players have been inching closer to a return, but have been conspicuously absent from pictures released by the club from training this week (at least so far). One would think that James would especially be among the first players that Chelsea would feature on social media as we look to build towards the big showdown Saturday evening.

Having served his one-match suspension before the break, James had been expected to return against Arsenal this weekend, while Chukwuemeka (who was moved to post an inspirational quote about faith on his Instagram stories today) was “close” last week already. Hopefully any setbacks that they may have actually suffered will indeed turn out to be just minor.