Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has yet to decide whether to risk striker Diego Costa for the Premier League leaders’ clash today with Stoke City.
He also says he is not going to predict a time and place when Chelsea clinch the league championship.
Costa suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problem in last month’s 3-2 win at Hull City and withdrew from international duty with Spain. Chelsea’s top scorer will be in the squad for the Stamford Bridge fixture but may not start.
“Diego trained with the group. He’s not injured,” Mourinho said. “I don’t know if I start with him or not. We did all the tests and the scans to confirm two days ago scientifically the situation, and in this moment the muscle is fine.
“But football is more than that. You need confidence. You don’t need to break your intensity. That’s our doubt. Let’s see next 24 hours.”
RELATED:
— Chelsea ‘prepared to cope’ with title-chasing pressure, insists Felipe Luis
— Arsenal thinking ‘what if?’ after false twilight scuppers their title challenge
— Falcao back in Man United reckoning after Middle East exploits
Asked about the long-term solution to Costa’s recurring problems, Mourinho said an operation would be undertaken only if there was no alternative. “I don’t believe we will ever go in the surgery direction.”
He said the solution for Costa “is to work the way he does all the season in prevention, in making the muscle stronger and at the same time elastic and flexible. Recover well — not a big accumulation of fatigue — and this is what we can do.”
Chelsea have one game a week for the season run-in, apart from when they meet Leicester City in midweek later this month in a match rearranged due to the League Cup final.
Chelsea are six points clear of second-place Manchester City with that game in hand, but Mourinho says the title race is open and even Manchester United, who are in fourth, eight points behind, are in contention.
“We need six victories and one draw in nine matches, so a good situation for us, a situation that all the other clubs would like, but it’s pure mathematics,” Mourinho said.
In winning the title in 2005 and 2006, Mourinho predicted when and where Chelsea would lift the trophy.
It is “too early” to make such bold claims this time.
“If we are champions in the last match, I’m more than happy with that,” he said. “I’m not thinking about how or when. I’m just thinking that we need to win six matches and draw one.
“Every victory we have now is one victory less that we need and is one less occasion for our opponents to reach us. I don’t care if it’s in the hotel, or away or at home. I just want to win it.
“Many occasions in the Premier League, the clubs get the trophy in their last match at home. Our last match of the season is at home, so if we win the title we get the trophy at our house, but I don’t care even if somebody loses the trophy and we don’t get the trophy. I’m happy with that.
“I just want to win it.”
Mourinho says he expects Stoke to be a challenging opponent and was straining his voice when speaking to the media after tactical sessions this week.
“I think it was [Thursday’s] training session. It was a good one, an intense one,” he said. “I was also an important part of the training session. They need their legs, I need my voice. I lost my voice.
“Maybe because my voice was quiet for the last couple of weeks, I lost it.”
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE
