Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor has confirmed that Lauren James will be sidelined for at least the next few weeks due to a hamstring injury, ruling the forward out for a minimum of five matches. The 25-year-old's absence deals a significant blow to the Blues' upcoming schedule and raises serious doubts regarding her availability for England's World Cup qualifying play-off fixtures against Ukraine in December.
The issue occurred during Chelsea's 6-0 victory over Charlton Athletic last weekend, with James being substituted in distress in the 35th minute of the contest. Medical evaluations confirmed the muscular problem, with Bompastor confirming: "The only one who will be missing is LJ. She had a scan and she has an injury in her hamstring, so we won't see her until the end of this block." The layoff rules her out of Everton's upcoming visit to Stamford Bridge on Saturday as well as the following weekend's crucial encounter against champions Manchester City.
While James is ruled out, Chelsea received positive personnel news with midfielder Lexi Potter returning to the squad after missing the Charlton fixture, having made her England debut last month. Chelsea currently sit top of the Women's Super League table, having demonstrated resilience by securing victories both with and without James in the lineup over the course of the campaign.
Looking ahead, Bompastor stressed the importance of utilizing her squad's depth to compensate for the attacker's absence. The Chelsea boss pointed to statistics from the Charlton win, where a wide range of players found the net and every player on the pitch managed a shot on goal. Bompastor acknowledged James's quality but maintained that her duty as manager is to find solutions across the squad while James completes her recovery.
Explore our automated Poisson goal projections, Banker of the Day, and high-probability multi-set accumulator builder.
