Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has admitted that attacker Lauren James is unlikely to make her debut against Servette FCCF tomorrow night.
The 20-year-old has been carefully managed since joining The Blues in the summer with the player having had some bad luck with injuries at former club Manchester United.
Chelsea manager Hayes recently hinted that James could make her long-awaited debut for the club this month with one of the games against Swiss club Servette being a potential opportunity, however, it seems unlikely that this will happen at the Stade de Genève tomorrow night.
When speaking in her pre-match press conference, Hayes said “She has been out a year, it’s a long time and she has still got a lot of work to do to catch up to the group. She played 60 minutes yesterday, 45 minutes the other day and I’m probably leaning on giving her another 75 minutes on Thursday rather than gamble for tomorrow.
“We have to keep the long game in mind. Having her available for selection is great but she needs more of a training base, more physical work and needs to develop that in the games.
“I am pretty sure that you won’t see her tomorrow night.”
In other team news, Hayes went on to say that Pernille Harder has completed a number of training sessions and should be fit to play against Servette, although it remains to be seen whether Dutch centre-half Aniek Nouwen is risked after she sustained a minor injury at Aston Villa on Saturday.
“Aniek had to come out of the game, she just felt something in her abductor and we didn’t want to take a risk,” Hayes said. “Pernille has done three sessions now, she is training again tonight and if she comes through, she will be available for tomorrow. I think she will be but we will do the right thing.
“We are building minutes in everyone and everyone is available.”
The UEFA Women’s Champions League group fixture between Servette and Chelsea kicks-off at 5.45pm tomorrow night and will be available for fans to stream live on DAZN.
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