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Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho revealed that Diego Costa is barely training -- yet the Spain striker is still tearing Premier League defences apart after netting his eighth of the season in the 3-0 defeat of Aston Villa. Mourinho celebrated his 250th match in charge of the Blues with goals from Oscar and Willian either side of Costa's eighth goal in his first six league games, a tally second only to Micky Quinn's 10 with Coventry 22 years ago. That is despite the 32 million pound summer signing from Atletico Madrid having a hamstring injury which limits his involvement in training to "almost nothing." Mourinho said: "I don't care about Diego's goals. For me it's important that the team score enough goals to win. "I know a striker scoring goals is always nice for him and for his confidence, especially for a player like him who is not training as he should, because we are protecting him in certain situations. "He cannot be on top of his game, but even so scoring a goal is good for his confidence. "He's doing almost nothing [in training]. He's just resting and recovering from the tight muscle he has. Every time, he accumulates fatigue." Mourinho believes Costa will only be fully fit if he is given leave from the Spain squad for next month's matches with Slovakia and Luxembourg and fears a hamstring tear if his call is ignored. "If he doesn't go to the national team and if he stays here 15 days just on treatment, he has the perfect chance to be top for Chelsea and top for the national team," the Chelsea boss added. "If he doesn't have this period, will be always, plays one game, the other is in trouble, the muscle is tight, the muscle is a danger to rupture." Mourinho, comparing his side to this time last season, said. "We are a different team. We went in another direction. "It's a different type of striker we have. He can move, he can come out, he can go to the sides, he can hold the ball. We are a different profile of team." But he refused to look ahead to a possible title triumph, saying: "We go match after match. The next one for the Premier League is Arsenal [next Sunday]. "We have a lead of three points over Southampton, which is a guarantee that next weekend we will still be top of the league. "Is this very important? It's not crucial because it's too early, but it's a little bit of a space that gives you that good feeling that you're top of the league. It's good to be there. "We know this is the Premier League. Every game is really possible for a top team to lose points." He praised the way in which Chelsea "kept control of the game all the time" and added: "Overall, it was a very good performance."
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