Chelsea Team News: Mourinho Confirms Triple Fitness Boost Ahead Of Liverpool Game

Chelsea will be hoping to maintain their unbeaten start to the season when they take on Liverpool at Anfield 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 a team news and injury update.

The Blues boss confirmed that star striker Diego Costa is fit to start tomorrow, despite being left out of the Spain squad by Vincent del Bosque for their upcoming internationals earlier today.

Costa has struggled with an on-going hamstring injury all season which has led to Mourinho being reluctant to start the striker in three consecutive games. Having started against QPR last Saturday, the 26-year-old was on the bench for Wednesday’s draw in Maribor but the Blues coach has confirmed Costa will return to the starting eleven against Liverpool tomorrow.

The news comes just hours after Vicente Del Bosque surprisingly left Costa out of his Spain squad for their upcoming games against Belarus and Germany. However, Mourinho insists he had no influence over the decision, despite his war-of-words with the Spain coach after the striker aggravated his hamstring injury the last time he was away on international duty last month.

When asked for an update on Costa’s fitness, Mourinho said:

“Fit to play, yes. Hopefully everything goes well. Yes, he [Costa] starts the game.

“I’m pleased [that he isn’t part of Vicente del Bosque’s squad], but I want to make it clear that I did nothing to make that happen.

“As you can see, he was protected in the Champions League match, but, because the result was not good, I couldn’t protect him [throughout the match] and I had to play him for 45 minutes.

“As a consequence of the work we are doing with him, we think he’s ready to start the match tomorrow – but obviously not to join the international team.

“Now he has 15 days to finally rest, work, rest and work, properly. It’s fantastic news for us. We are thankful for the decision the Spanish federation made, but I want to make it clear I did nothing to make it happen.” Mourinho is quoted as saying by Goal.com

With Costa left out of the Spain squad, he’ll now have a two week break and Mourinho revealed that he plans to give his star striker a well-earned rest, which he believes will be to the benefit of both Chelsea and his national team in the long-term. He continued:

“The plan is, immediately after the match [against Liverpool], to have a period of complete rest,” the Portuguese boss continued.

“No training, no treatment, not even a massage on his muscle. Let him rest a few days. And after that to continue the specific work he is doing without having a specific match to play, even on the next weekend.

“It’s very good news for him, it’s very good news for us, and it’s very good news for the national team. It’s better for the Spanish federation to have a good Diego, rather than a so-so Diego.”

In a further double boost Mourinho also confirmed that “everybody is fit”, which means both John Obi Mikel and Loic Remy are back in the squad. Mikel has missed the last month with a knee injury while Remy has been on the sidelines with a groin problem, but the duo are fit and available for Saturday’s clash at Anfield.