Chelsea right-back Reece James won’t feature for the Blues against Southampton at Stamford Bridge today, according to reports.

According to The Athletic, Chelsea boss Graham Potter has opted to rest James for the game against Southampton, with several more first-team stars also set to miss the game.

James has been handed far more minutes than Chelsea had initially planned as part of his recovery and Potter has now decided to leave him out against Southampton.

James is not injured nor has he been left out as a precaution, but Graham Potter simply wants to manage his minutes after yet another long lay-off.

Potter hopes the decision to rest James this weekend will allow him to feature prominently in next week’s trip to face Tottenham as well as the second leg of the last-16 showdown with Dortmund.