Jose Mourinho admits Chelsea are in trouble because of their mounting injury problems. While the manager hopes to have Diego Costa back for Saturday’s London derby with QPR, he pointed to injuries to Ramires and Loic Remy, plus the short turnaround between Sunday’s game at United and Tuesday’s Capital One Cup trip to Shrewbury, as evidence of the challenge he is facing.
“I have only one day, we travel to London and we are travelling to Shrewsbury. We are in trouble because we have so many injured players,” he said. “It is even more difficult for us to go. We have to go. We now have a difficult match. Because they are doing very well in their league and doing very well against superior teams in the Capital One Cup. It’s a big day for them. We know it will be difficult for us. But that’s football.
“Every game is important. Shrewsbury is not a friendly. We have to play matches with respect and the best way to respect Shrewsbury is to go there with a good team. Not to go there with a weak team and lose. It is to go there with a good team –if they win, they win, but they win against a good team. We are in a difficult situation with regards to today but, when you look at the players who didn’t play – Schürrle, Salah, Zouma, Aké, Mikel – these boys are obviously going to have to play.”
Andre Schurrle is likely to play as the lone striker against Shrewsbury because Remy is out for two weeks and Costa is still yet to recover from his injury. Drogba played for 90 minutes on Sunday and might struggle to feature again so soon.
Costa’s fitness has been a lingering concern to Mourinho so far this season. The forward, who has been troubled by a niggling injury all season, was in hospital with a stomach virus last week but also has a groin strain he apparently picked up on international duty. He has been unable to train properly since returning from Spain’s Euro 2016 qualifiers against Slovakia and Luxembourg.
His return for Saturday’s would be a big boost for Chelsea. “I think so. QPR, one week more, I hope so,” said Mourinho, when asked about Costa’s availability for the game at the weekend.
“The virus is fine. It was hard when Costa went to hospital and obviously it doesn’t help to recover from the injury. But he didn’t come [to Old Trafford] because of the injury, not because of the virus. He aggravated the hamstring because he played two matches in three days and was not with us.”
Nemanja Matic confirmed Costa pulled out of the squad on the day before the match at Old Trafford. “We found out Saturday,” said the midfielder. “He trained with us but I think he felt some more pain and the club didn’t want to risk him. Of course we need him but the most important thing is to be healthy and to be prepared for the next games. We have a lot before the end. We need every player fit.”
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