Jose Mourinho has revealed that he may have to turn to veteran Didier Drogba as his main striker after Loic Remy limped out of Tuesday night's 6-0 Champions League demolition of Maribor.
With summer signing Diego Costa already on the casualty list, Remy limped out of the game with just a quarter of an hour gone having earlier fired the home side into a 13th-minute lead, prompting the 36-year-old Ivorian's quicker-than-expected introduction.
Mourinho later revealed Remy would be sidelined for, at best, a couple of weeks with a groin injury.
He told ITV1: "Remy has a problem in the groin. I don't know, but normally a muscular problem is a muscular problem, so...''
Asked if Drogba is now his No. 1 frontman, Mourinho replied: "I was not expecting Didier to play so long today. I was not expecting him to play 75 minutes, but he had to come on -- he was the striker on the bench.
"It was too early with the score at 1-0 with 75 minutes to go, and in the end because the game went in the right direction, Didier could be there and could improve his condition because now is about improving his condition.
"We know the player he is, we know that he can give us still a lot, so it was good for him to be on the pitch for the first time this season for a long time.''
Mourinho said he is unconcerned by the prospect of being without both Costa and Remy for Sunday's Premier League visit to Manchester United.
"I am not worried. When a player is injured, play another one," he said.
"I don't expect," he replied when asked about Costa's prospects of involvement. "I don't like to talk about injured players."
Drogba, who could start against United, needed just a few minutes to make his mark on the Maribor game as he converted a 23rd-minute penalty to stretch his side's advantage, although that did not go down particularly well with his manager with Eden Hazard his designated spot-kick specialist.
The Portuguese said: "Yes, I was surprised. [I was] not particularly pleased because I have my choices and my choice is Eden is the first-choice and after that, Drogba and Oscar and [Cesc] Fabregas and Diego Costa are the ones in case Eden is not on the pitch. But because it was a goal, I am happy with that."
It was Drogba's first goal for the club since scoring in and slotting home the winning penalty in the 2012 Champions League final.
"Players like to score goals, he was not for a long time on the pitch," Mourinho added. "His last goal for Chelsea was the most important in the history of the club goal so to score again at Stamford Bridge was nice for him."
John Terry made it 3-0 before the break and the second half was played out much like the first. An own goal from Mitka Viler was followed by two strikes from Eden Hazard, first from the penalty spot, and then a fine late strike.
The Blues are in full command of Group G, and can now perhaps afford to refocus on domestic concerns.
"We played seriously. We faced the game in the right way and even at half-time with 3-0, the boys kept playing to good speed, good quality, enjoying the game and getting three important point for us, but at the same time, a game that the fans like," Mourinho said.
"We are playing well, we are confident. We are solid, we found a good balance. We have now the players adapted to play the game that we were preparing last year, the style that we were preparing last year that we couldn't manage to do in a perfect way."
Mourinho's team are already 10 points clear of Sunday's opponents in the Premier League, and the Portuguese manager has a chance to put even greater distance between himself and one-time mentor Louis van Gaal.
"I cannot speak about Man United," he said. "I can speak about ourselves. We are playing well, we are getting good results. We don't cry on injuries. It's our philosophy, we don't cry. We just think one injury means an opportunity for somebody else.
"We cannot hide. In this moment we have some problems with players that are not available to play. We will prepare the game Thursday, Friday, Saturday to try to be at our best possible level against an opponent which we respect very, very much."
Mourinho was able to field three teenagers and praised the trio of defender Kurt Zouma, midfielder Nathan Ake and striker Dominic Solanke.
"Zouma is in a different dimension," he said. "Zouma is ready to play any match, but because I wanted to give stability to the team I played since day one with [Gary] Cahill and John [Terry].
"Ake's a different level, but is in the level of the almost there. Solanke is in the phase of the talent that we know that is there, but is far from being there. For him it was also a perfect situation. For sure he's going to play many, many Champions League matches, because he'll be a very good player."