José Mourinho is considering starting Diego Costa on the bench against Stoke City on Saturday, with the Chelsea manager wary of risking the team’s leading scorer in the wake of a long-standing hamstring injury.
Costa, who has 19 goals in the Premier League this season, has been hampered by hamstring problems at various points this season and sustained his latest strain in the victory at Hull City just before the international window. He travelled to Spain to be assessed by the national federation’s medical staff, who confirmed he would not be able to feature in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Ukraine and a subsequent friendly against Holland and the striker returned to Cobham for treatment.
Scans by Chelsea on Wednesday have shown the injury has healed, though Mourinho is concerned about the 26-year-old’s psychological state as the campaign enters the run-in. “Diego trained yesterday and today with the group,” said Mourinho on Friday. “He’s not injured but I don’t know if I start with him or not because, obviously, with muscular injuries, and after just two days with the group, I need to analyse the situation with him and make a decision.
“It was the same injury, a hamstring, and he dedicated himself to recovering. No days off, the medical department were saying. Morning, afternoon, working hard. We can say we did all the tests and scans to confirm scientifically the situation and at this moment the muscle is fine. But football is more than that: you need confidence, to believe that you don’t need to break your intensity and are free to express yourself at the maximum intensity, and that’s our doubt. We’ll see the next 24 hours. But selected [in the squad]? That’s for sure.”
One player who will definitely start against Stoke, who have not won at Stamford Bridge since 1996, is the winger Eden Hazard. The Belgian played in a qualifying win in Israel on Tuesday, having scored a goal three days earlier in his side’s 5-0 victory over Cyprus, and has recently spoken of feeling tired. But Mourinho insisted the player would feature at Stamford Bridge.
“Hazard is tired because he played two matches in three days because he played in Israel, travelled, didn’t sleep, arrived in Belgium 5am or 6am, and he’s been playing,” said the Chelsea manager. “We think he can recover in these couple of days but he plays tomorrow. That’s football. That’s a season for a player who is important for club and national team, a player I want to play every time and his coach in his country also wants to play him every time.”
Mourinho went on to praise the Belgian playmaker, who has 16 goals in all competitions this season, as “a player who plays with the ball, who creates, who dribbles and plays with lots of intensity”. He added: “It’s not a surprise he can be a bit tired. I believe in him and the team and in his ambition and desire to play and help the team reach the season’s objective. I start with him.”