Football
Miguel Delaney 9y

Jose Mourinho: Chelsea's Diego Costa 'totally recovered' from injury woes

Jose Mourinho says Diego Costa is fully fit after being given the international week off by Spain, although the Chelsea manager is waiting on the fitness of Cesc Fabregas ahead of Saturday's home match against West Brom.

Costa had been plagued by a recurring hamstring problem in the first two months of the season, which led to Spain eventually acquiescing to Mourinho's public wish that the striker be given time off.

"Diego has totally recovered," the Portuguese told his pregame news conference on Friday. "But we go match after match. Diego has four yellow cards. Am I going to protect him? No way. He plays. When he's fit, he plays.

"When he gets the fifth yellow card... I am not thinking about Sunderland, Newcastle [United] or Stoke [City]. I am thinking just about the next match. We go match by match, but the way he trains and expresses himself in training, he has a free mind. He's free of fears at this moment. He's good at this moment."

Mourinho stated that Andre Schurrle is back at peak condition, while he is yet to decide whether Ramires or Fabregas can face the Baggies.

"Fabregas trained with the team today, but today was a very simple session," he said. "We are going to make a decision. Hopefully he can play because it's a very important game for us.

"Ramires is a little bit like against Liverpool: he can play, but he's not in very, very good condition. He is improving. It's the kind of injury that is improving, so he will be available to play but he's still a problem for us."

Mourinho also maintained that his team will not suffer from complacency, despite recording the third-best start in Premier League history with 29 points from a possible 33.

"No, no. No complacency, that's for sure," he added. "If we lose matches, and I believe we will, it won't be because of complacency. It will be because football is football.

"It was not in the Premier League but I can give you an example: our game against Maribor [the 1-1 draw]. We lost two points, but it wasn't down to complacency. It was because of football.

"Their goalkeeper was the man of the match and we missed so many chances, but my team played tremendously well in the second half. But we still lost two points. You lose points because it's football, because the opponents are better than you, but not because of complacency."

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