Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell unlikely to return until December due to hamstring injury, raising concerns for his availability in Christmas fixtures. With Luke Shaw also unavailable, England’s left-back position remains vacant.

Ben Chilwell will reportedly miss at least two months of action after suffering a hamstring injury in a major blow for Chelsea.

The England left-back picked up the issue during last Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie with Brighton, with coach Mauricio Pochettino admitting the situation didn’t look good.

The Daily Telegraph have reported Chilwell, 26, will be sidelined for at least eight weeks and faces a race to be fit for the Christmas schedule.

It means England are now without a fit left-back for their upcoming games against Australia and Italy with Manchester United’s Luke Shaw also sidelined.

Speaking ahead of the weekend, Pochettino had said: ‘I think it is bad news from what the doctor told me. It is not a good thing.’

That appears to now have been confirmed with Chilwell unlikely to feature again until the back end of the year.

Chilwell was forced to miss the World Cup in Qatar last year with a similar hamstring issue and he’ll now be sidelined for England’s upcoming games.

They entertain Australia in a Wembley friendly on October 13 before a home Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy four days later.

In November, the Three Lions conclude their qualifying group with matches against Malta at Wembley and North Macedonia in Skopje.