Chelsea Team News: Mourinho Offers Update On Costa, Ramires, Remy & More

Chelsea will be looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season when they take on West London rivals Queens Park Rangers at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, Jose Mourinho has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and gave reporters the latest team news.

The Blues boss confirmed that star striker Diego Costa is back in contention after recovering from a hamstring injury that’s kept him out since the last international break.

The 26-year-old aggravated the niggling injury while away with the Spain squad at the start of the month and has subsequently missed Chelsea’s last four fixtures.

With Loic Remy also out with a groin problem, Didier Drogba has filled the void up front and has scored three goals in three games, but Mourinho revealed that Costa is ready to return to ease the load on the 36-year-old Ivorian.

“Diego is available, and that’s good for us,”

“It’s difficult with only one striker available. Is difficult. When you have two, obviously the situation improves.” Mourinho is quoted as saying by the Guardian

The situation in attack will be boosted even further over the coming weeks as Mourinho also confirmed that although Loic Remy will miss upcoming games against QPR, Maribor and Liverpool, the Frenchman will be available again after the international break meaning he should be back in contention to face West Bromwich Albion on November 22nd.

“Remy is not available. He will be available again after the international break,” the manager added.

There is further positive news with Chelseafc.com confirming that Ramires is available again having missed the last six weeks with a groin injury that he picked up against Manchester City last month, while Branislav Ivanovic returns from suspension.

However, it’s not all good news as John Obi Mikel will miss out with a knee injury that he picked up during Tuesday’s 2-1 win away at Shrewsbury in the Capital One Cup and Cesar Azpilicueta will serve the final of his three-game ban.