Why Chelsea have to wait till Monday before deciding if Reece James needs surgery

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino says the club will know if Reece James needs surgery or not tomorrow (Monday) after his latest blow at Goodison. The Chelsea captain lasted just 24 minutes in their 2-0 defeat to Everton last weekend.

Chelsea don't want to take any chances and will give him all the time he needs for the pain to settle before assessing the situation and making a firm decision.

This is James' seventh hamstring injury in the last 24 months, and there have been increasing calls for him to have surgery and help correct the situation. Asked if the club had entirely ruled out the possibility of treating him through the knife, the Chelsea boss said they would only know tomorrow.

He told reporters: "No, no. Monday we will know. Monday we will know more about how we will proceed and whether it is necessary or not.

"We are all now thinking how we are going to approach the situation and trying to find different solutions, different strategies. I prefer not to talk too much because it is a situation that is not nice. I know how he is suffering and his family of course.

"He was so excited to be back again and to be fit to help the team in this situation and, yes, we need to be cautious in the way we talk. First, we need to settle the basis of the way we are going to proceed with his recovery. Still, on Monday we need to see how it is going to be the situation, see the situation and then proceed in trying to find a different way to approach the problem and find different alternatives."

The west London club returned to winning ways against Sheffield United on Saturday and will now turn attention to Newcastle United in the League Cup on Tuesday night.