Chelsea have confirmed Reece James will be ruled out for up to a month after suffering a setback in his return from a knee injury in the Blues’ victory over Bournemouth.

It was against AC Milan in mid-October that James suffered knee ligament damage after a clash with Theo Hernandez.

The injury resulted in the 23-year-old missing out on the World Cup and having to undertake recovery work while many of his teammates were representing their countries in Qatar.

James returned to training earlier this month during Chelsea’s week-long stay in Abu Dhabi. He then stepped up his recovery by featuring in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Brentford at Cobham last week. That was evidently enough to convince the club’s medical team and Graham Potter that James was ready to start against Bournemouth.

The academy graduate impressed during the opening 45 minutes of the win against the Cherries – and the plan was for England international to play around an hour before being replaced. However, early into the second period, James signalled that he felt pain in his knee and soon crumpled to the turf in anguish.

He left Stamford Bridge wearing a knee brace and those close to James were fearful he had done significant damage. However, while a scan this morning allied those fears, Chelsea have confirmed James will be ruled out until at least the end of January.

A statement released by Chelsea this afternoon read: “Reece James underwent assessment earlier today after being substituted during the second half of last night’s 2-0 Premier League victory over AFC Bournemouth due to a knee injury. Scan results have regrettably confirmed a setback for the 23-year-old, with Reece now set to be ruled out for up to a month.”