Chelsea Team News: Mourinho Confirms Triple Injury Blow But Key Man Returns

Chelsea will look to push up the Premier League table when they entertain Bournemouth 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 has given a team news and injury update.

The Blues boss confirmed a triple injury blow with the news that John Terry, Ramires and Radamel Falcao will all miss the game through injury.

Terry missed last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Tottenham Hotspur due to an ankle injury that he suffered during the Champions League win at Maccabi Tel Aviv last month and the skipper has failed to recover in time for tomorrow’s game.

Ramires has missed the last two matches with a muscle problem that he suffered in Israel while Falcao has been nursing his own muscle injury in recent weeks, and the duo will remain on the sidelines this weekend.

However, there was some positive news to come from Mourinho’s press conference as he also confirmed that Thibaut Courtois is ready to make his long-awaited return to the first team set-up.

The Belgian international hasn’t played since late August after undergoing knee surgery but after completing a gruelling rehabilitation programme, the keeper is set to make his comeback against Bournemouth tomorrow afternoon.

Mourinho told Chelseafc.com:

‘I was hoping everybody would be fit but it’s not possible,’

‘John, Ramires and Falcao are still out. Courtois is selected. I haven’t told them who is starting, they must be the ones to know but he is selected in the group. I have to make a decision but clearly sooner or later he will be number one, so if he doesn’t play against Bournemouth he will play against Porto.

‘He was our goalkeeper all last season and we know how fundamental he was for us so it’s very important we have him back.

‘To lose your number one for three months, something like 19 matches in all competitions, without the best goalkeeper in the world, was hard for us. It’s been a long, long time, too long, but now we feel better.

‘We have him, we have [Asmir] Begovic, [Marco] Amelia and [Jamal] Blackman and now we are safe. We are again in a super position where we have the best and a very good one.’

It will come as a blow for Chelsea to be without Terry but with Kurt Zouma set to continue alongside Gary Cahill at the back, the defending champions should have enough to see-off Bournemouth on home soil.

Chelsea head into the weekend action sitting 14th in the Premier League table so Mourinho will be desperate for a win to help aid their recovery following a disastrous start to their season.