Big match Jose Mourinho reports Diego Costa is able to play in our match against Arsenal on Sunday, the final one of a busy period for the Blues. Last month the manager said the striker was not able to play three matches in a week and his situation would be carefully monitored to aid his recovery from a hamstring injury picked up on international duty. Diego Costa has been called up by Spain ahead of their next Euro 2016 qualifiers, and Mourinho, speaking at his pre-match media conference at Cobham this afternoon, explained why the striker is available for selection on Sunday. My reaction to the news that he’s in the Spanish squad is to have no reaction because it’s something I could already imagine, he said. It’s not a surprise for me. Can he play three matches in a week? I think it’s too much, but he’s going to do that. And why is he going to do that? Because I’m not going to save him to be in perfect condition for the national team. This week we have three very important matches. The Champions League match was crucial for us after a bad result at home. We needed that victory away so I had to go with everything and everybody. It is an important match against Arsenal, and being the last one with that busy period with the club, he plays. He had the match in Lisbon, he will have had these four days in between, so he will be in an okay condition. What happens in the 15 days after that [with his national team] is not my responsibility. In the corresponding fixture last season the Blues ran out 6-0 winners, while our manager remains unbeaten in matches against his opposite number on Sunday, Arsene Wenger. However, Mourinho insists that those historical matters are not relevant when it comes to the latest meeting between the London rivals, the only sides still unbeaten in the Premier League. 6-0 is once every 50 years, it’s not year after year. It’s something that happens occasionally. And me against Arsene Wenger? I never had the pleasure to play one against one against him - beach soccer or something – I never had that pleasure. It was always between Chelsea and Arsenal, and even that doesn’t play an important part in Sunday’s game. It’s isolated, out of context. What happened in the past, happened in the past. This is another match. Can we win again? Yes we can, but it’s a big match against a very good team and a difficult one. More to follow...
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 13:58:31 +0000
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