Chelsea Respond To Reports Of Bust-Up Involving Terry & Costa

Chelsea have been forced to deny reports of a training ground bust-up involving skipper John Terry and striker Diego Costa, according to the Express.

The Blues have endured a difficult start to the new Premier League season after managing to take just four points from their opening five matches to leave their title defence in tatters.

Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Everton was their third defeat of the season and leaves Jose Mourinho’s men 11 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, and it appears the pressure may already be getting to some of the players.

talkSPORT pundit Stan Collymore caused a stir on Monday after suggesting live on air that Terry and Costa had to be separated by team mates following a clash in training.

Terry has come under increasing criticism following his poor start to the campaign while Costa has also come under fire after finding the net just once so far this season, and it looked like tensions had boiled over on the training pitch.

However, the Express claim that Chelsea have now responded by denying the reports and insist there was no altercation between the two players.

Collymore has also been forced to back-track on his previous claims after being in touch with the Blues press officer Steve Atkins. The former Liverpool and Aston Villa hitman released a statement on Twitter saying:

Yesterday @talkSPORT LIVE i made the suggestion that Diego Costa and John Terry had a contretemps (handbags, ruck, scuffle, call it what you will) recently in training.

Steve Atkins, Chelsea Press Officer contacted me this evening and after consulting the players, coaching staff and manager, he stated that at no time did John Terry or Diego Costa have a “bust up”.

I take great care and pride in making sure any suggestions, stories or rumour that i suggest on air or in print are verified by not one but sometimes more than two separate sources.

This was the case on this occasion, and i stated this to Steve Atkins.

However, i’m not beyond getting things wrong, am happy to hold my hand up and say i was on this occasion, so therefore it is right and proper to apologise unreservedly to Diego Costa, John Terry and Chelsea Football Club for any inconvenience caused.

Stan Collymore

To me, it sounds like Collymore still believes that a bust-up took place between Terry and Costa as he stresses that it has been confirmed to him by at least one source, but he’s been forced to retract his statement following a chat with the Chelsea press officer.

Altercations between players take place all the time on the training pitch so it’s not that big of a deal, but if there was an incident at Cobham between two senior players like Terry and Costa then it just shows how much pressure the Chelsea boys are under right now.

Mourinho will be desperate to secure a morale-boosting win when they kick off their Champions League campaign at home to Maccabi Tel Aviv tomorrow night.