Jose Mourinho believes Diego Costa has recovered from his
long-standing injury problems and is now ready to play a full part in
Chelsea's testing run of fixtures to the turn of the year.
Chelsea
manager Mourinho has maintained the Spain striker has required careful
handling after suffering injuries while away on international duty this
season.
But after criticising the way Costa has been used by his
country, Mourinho is convinced the player has benefited from being left
out of Spain squad for the recent round of international matches.
Also read: Di Matteo's Schalke hunt Wolves in Chelsea warm-upDespite
a lingering hamstring complaint, Costa has struck ten goals in his
first nine Premier League games since a 32 million ($53.1 million) move
from Atletico Madrid.
And with Chelsea facing a grueling run of 12
matches in 41 days between Saturday's clash with West Bromwich Albion
and the January 1 visit to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Mourinho is
satisfied Costa is fully prepared for the demanding programme.
"He
(Costa) had a little holiday, with a Chelsea physio, for two weeks so
even then he was working many hours per day with our physio," Mourinho
told a news conference at the club's Cobham training centre, south-west
of London, on Friday.
"After that he came back, he keeps going in
the right direction. We feel he's free of his old injury," the
Portuguese manager added.
"But now we are going to have a period
that is new for him," said Mourinho of the congested run of holiday
period fixtures which, while a traditional feature of British football,
has no equivalent elsewhere in Europe.
"I believe the Christmas period for players doing it for the first time in their careers is more difficult," Mourinho said.
"The
English players, or those who have been here for many years, are more
physically and mentally adapted and prepared to cope with the special
incredible marathon of football we face.
"We spoke yesterday
(Thursday) about it. 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."
No complacency
Chelsea,
unbeaten in all competitions this season, face West Brom with
Mourinho's men top of the Premier League and four points clear of
surprise package Southampton.
However, Mourinho said: "There is no
complacency, that's for sure. If we lose matches, and I believe we
will, it won't be because of complacency. It will be because football is
football.
"In our game against Maribor in the Champions League,
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."
Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has been linked with a January move away from the club after losing his place to Thibaut Courtois.
Paris
Saint Germain, Arsenal and AC Milan have all been linked with the Czech
international but Mourinho denied there had been an approach for the
player.
"I promise you, I tell you the truth. On my desk, normally information arrives from the board. But I have zero. Zero proposals.
"At
this moment, Petr Cech is our goalkeeper and has a contract for two
more years. He's a fantastic professional and puts the team's interests
first."Not once has Petr Cech knocked on my door to inform me of his desire to
accept some proposal. This is my truth, nothing more I can say.
