Reece James is in line to play his first full match since returning from his last injury, according to Mauricio Pochettino.

James missed the first few months of action with a hamstring problem, and made his return in the 2-0 Carabao Cup win against Blackburn Rovers back in October.

The 23-year-old has featured in every Chelsea match since then, without finishing any of them.

James recently revealed he feels a lot better than ever after pulling out of England’s squad to face Malta and North Macedonia in the last international break, and now, Pochettino has hinted that the right-back is just about fully fit.

The Chelsea boss said: “We’ll see. We’ll see tomorrow. He’s doing well, he’s at a very good level. He’s improving everyday, we’re so happy with him. Hope he can cope with the demands of 90 minutes and we’ll see tomorrow. Now you know one player that is going to play.”

He also stated: “For me it’s tough, because we perform really well against big teams but then we struggle. That is why in the last two weeks we were talking with the players, now today, to find out why and how we can provide the tools to improve our performance against teams people don’t consider our level.

“I think it’s a good point to work. It’s more mental than tactical or physical and it’s a mix of many factors. Most important is to realise and we need to be clever in how we assess the things.”