Chelsea to miss Costa against Spurs
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has expressed confidence that his side will overcome the loss of leading scorer Diego Costa when they host London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
Costa will be suspended after picking up a fifth booking of the season during the weekend’s goalless draw at Sunderland, but Mourinho believes his side can cope without their 11-goal marksman.
“We don’t speak about Diego,” he told a press conference at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, 17 miles (27 kilometres) southwest of London.
“We trust (Loic) Remy and (Didier) Drogba the same way we trust Diego. This is not our way of work. So forget Diego. We trust the other two and we go with the other two.”
Chelsea head into the mid-week matches six points clear of second-place Manchester City at the head of the Premier League table.
UNDER PRESSURE
Their failure to beat Sunderland, together with City’s impressive 3-0 win at Southampton, suggested Mourinho’s side may finally be about to come under pressure after cruising through the opening weeks of the season.
Meanwhile, Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany will miss his side’s Premier League trip to Sunderland on Wednesday due to a hamstring problem, manager Manuel Pellegrini has revealed.
The Belgium international sustained the injury towards the end of City’s 3-0 win at Southampton on Sunday.
“He has an injury in his hamstring, but we’ll see how long it will be,” Pellegrini told a press conference.
With Eliaquim Mangala suspended following his dismissal at Southampton, right-back Bacary Sagna or fringe player Dedryck Boyata could be asked to play alongside Martin Demichelis in central defence.
Wednesday night fixtures:
Sunderland vs Man City (10:45pm)
Chelsea vs Tottenham (10:45pm)
Everton vs Hull City (10:45pm)
Arsenal vs Southampton (10:45pm)