Chelsea Team News: Mourinho Confirms Double Injury Boost + Hazard Latest

Chelsea will look to tighten their grip at the top of the Premier League when then take on Stoke City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

Ahead of the game, Jose Mourinho has been speaking to the media this afternoon at his pre-match press conference and has given Chelseafc.com a team news and injury update.

The Blues boss revealed some excellent news with Diego Costa making a swift recovery from his latest hamstring injury. The striker was forced off during Chelsea’s 3-2 win at Hull two weeks ago with a hamstring issue and was forced to miss Spain’s international double-header.

Costa was initially expected to be out for around a month, however, Mourinho confirmed he’s no longer considered injured and has been training for the last two days, although he’ll make a late decision over whether to start him against Stoke tomorrow.

The Portuguese coach also revealed that John Obi Mikel has also recovered from a knee injury, but the Nigerian international won’t be in contention for this weekend as he’s feeling the effects of his first full weeks training for over a month.

Mourinho told the clubs website:

‘Diego trained yesterday and today with the group and he is not injured,’

‘I don’t know if I start with him or not because after a muscular injury and then just two days with the group, I need to analyse the situation with him and make a decision.

‘Mikel is fine and working all week with the group but he is very tired so he is not selected, but he is not injured,’

‘He is tired because he was injured for a month, he had surgery and he was not working with the group, so after four sessions with the group he needs time to adapt and needs time to be in condition.’

If Costa is left on the substitutes bench then Loic Remy could be selected ahead of Didier Drogba in attack after the Frenchman came off the bench to score the winner at the KC Stadium two weeks ago.

One man who’s sure to start is Eden Hazard as Mourinho has confirmed he’ll once again start the attacker despite the Belgian international complaining he was feeling jaded earlier this week.

Jose said:

‘Hazard is tired because he played two matches in three days,’

‘He travelled and didn’t sleep because he arrived in Belgium at 5 or 6 in the morning after playing in Israel. We think he can recover in these couple of days, but he plays tomorrow (Saturday).

‘That’s football. That’s what a season is like for a player who is important for both his club and national team. I want to play him every time and the coach of his country wants to play him every time.

‘He is a team player that plays with the ball, creates, dribbles and players with lots of intensity so it is not a surprise that he can be a bit tired. But I believe in him, the team and his ambition to play.

‘And I believe in his desire to help the team reach their season objective, so I will start with him.’ Mourinho is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail

Chelsea head into the weekend action sitting six points clear of second placed Manchester City with a game in hand, so they can take another huge step closer to reclaiming the Premier League title if they beat Stoke tomorrow.

Join Chelsea on INPLAY

Join Chelsea’s official Club on INPLAY for your chance to win an amazing hospitality package for 2 to watch Chelsea in London

Fans can now follow the Chelsea F.C. via the ‘Official Chelsea FC’ Club on INPLAY, receiving the latest news, videos, offers and more, and seamlessly share them with all their friends and fellow CFC fans on INPLAY. Chelsea FC joins fabulous full-back Cesar Azpilicueta in launching their own official Fan Club on the app.

In order to have your chance of winning this fantastic prize, all you need to do is to follow 3 easy steps:

1. Download the INPLAY app from the App Store or Google Play
2. Invite at least 1 friend to the app.
3. Join the ‘Official Chelsea FC’ Fan Club (search for ‘Official Chelsea FC’ in the Discover area).

The promotion will run between 2-30 April.

Get started by downloading the app here.