Reece James returns to Chelsea training

James struggled with injury issues throughout the 2022-23 campaign, which restricted him to just 16 Premier League appearances.

The right-back suffered another injury setback in the early stages of the new season after picking up a hamstring injury in training.

As a result, the 23-year-old has not featured for the club since their 1-1 draw against Liverpool on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Having been without their captain for eight competitive games, Chelsea have received a boost following the news that James has made his return to first-team training.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Chelsea uploaded a picture of the England international in training.

While James was not expected to be fit to face Burnley, he has been ruled out of the fixture regardless after being handed a one-match suspension.

The full-back was suspended by the Football Association for his conduct following Chelsea's 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa last month.

James allegedly exchanged words with referee Jarred Gillett in the tunnel and admitted to the offence of "improper, insulting and abusive words and behaviour towards a match official".

With Saturday's fixture representing Chelsea's final game before the international break, James will look to use the two-week period to build up his fitness.

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino will hope to have James available for Chelsea's first game back against Arsenal on October 21.

In more positive news, summer signing Moises Caicedo is expected to be fit for the weekend despite being forced off in Monday's win over Fulham with an injury issue.

However, Chelsea are still expected to be without a number of players, including defenders Ben Chilwell, Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile.

Marcus Bettinelli, Romeo Lavia, Carney Chukwuemeka and Christopher Nkunku are also nursing injury issues.

Chelsea, who are currently in 11th place, will attempt to claim a third straight victory in all competitions when they make the trip to Turf Moor this weekend.