But amid concerns the England international could miss the World Cup, Potter urged caution.

"There is no point looking into the doomsday scenario yet," he said.

"We need to check and then go forward."

He said: "Reece is due to see a specialist over the weekend so until we get that information, there is not too much more I can add.

"We need to check the discomfort and see a specialist. Yesterday he felt not too bad but until you get these things checked we never know."

James, 22, was the latest England right-back to go down in a spate of injuries, with Manchester City's Kyle Walker undergoing groin surgery earlier in October and Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold picking up an ankle injury against Arsenal last weekend.

Potter also revealed that midfielder N'Golo Kante had suffered a "setback" in his recovery from the hamstring injury he sustained in August, adding that the France international would also see a consultant at the weekend.

The Blues boss has a degree in leadership and emotional intelligence and, asked if he would put it to use with injured Chelsea players who may miss out on the World Cup, he said: "If anything happens like that, they are going to be disappointed. They are human beings and they want to go.

"They also know it's a profession where things can happen and they are competing at the highest level and you can't avoid this sometimes.

"It's about dealing with the upset and we will help them with that. I can't think of anything from my career that compares with missing the World Cup."