MX23RW : Monday, December 16 01:14:47| >> :120:11152:11152:

Live Coverage: Jose Mourinho's weekly Chelsea press conference

Sports Mole brings you live coverage of Jose Mourinho's pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea's match against Manchester City in the Premier League.
2

Jose Mourinho has revealed that Diego Costa will be fit to face Manchester City when Chelsea travel to the Premier League champions this weekend.

The league's top scorer sat out the team's draw with Schalke in the Champions League earlier this week with a hamstring problem.

Read below what else the manager said in his weekly press briefing:


Sort:
Newest
Oldest
Hello! We'll be hearing from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in the next 15 minutes ahead of the league leaders' trip to Manchester City this weekend. The match comes just four days after the Stamford Bridge side were held to a 1-1 draw by Schalke in the Champions League.

The Blues have looked imperious in the Premier League so far, winning all four of their matches by at least two goals. They also boast the league's top goal-scorer in Diego Costa, who has netted seven times so far this season.

There is a fitness concern over the Spaniard though, as he missed their Champions League match earlier this week because of a hamstring injury. Mourinho recently revealed that the injury is restricting Costa to just one match per week.

Chelsea have a busy couple of weeks coming up. After this match, they'll face Bolton in the League Cup, before hosting in-form Aston Villa in the league, ahead of a trip to Sporting Lisbon.

As with all Premier League matches, Sports Mole will have live coverage from the match, as well as team news ahead of kickoff, manager reaction and player ratings from this match on Sunday.

Mourinho is now in the press centre ready to speak to reporters, so let's see what he has to say...

When asked about the added significance of facing a title rival, Mourinho says: "It's one more game and three more points but when matches are between title contenders, every point makes a difference."

On the prospect of a trip of the Etihad, Mourinho admits that he has been doing his research: "We know what it's like to win there and lose there. I watched last season's games to identify the differences."

Turning his attention to his squad, Mourinho reveals that Costa would be ready to play on Sunday: "Everybody is ready to play, Diego is not in the best condition but he will start. If he plays he won't play against Bolton. I don't want to compare squads but ours is better than it was last season, we have more solutions. We have a good balance."

Chelsea could face a former player in Frank Lampard this weekend, but Mourinho does not think that it will be weird for him or his players: "No, that's football, maybe if you asked me three years ago, or few months, yes. When he signed for New York team, I was not expecting that. He has my respect."

On the subject as this weekend's opponents, Mourinho says that he respects the Premier League champions, but that his players are confident: "It's always a good time to play against big teams because it makes my job easy. We respect City totally because they deserve it, but we believe in ourselves. The perfect situation is to score a lot of goals and not concede, and we have to chase that perfection."

And on that note, Mourinho makes his exit to continue to prepare his squad for their trip to Manchester.

So that's all from this press conference, but join us again later as Louis van Gaal will be talking to the media, and join us again on Sunday to see if Chelsea can maintain their unbeaten start to the season. Thanks for joining me this afternoon, goodbye.

ID:177654: cacheID:177654:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:6644:
Written by
Sian Cowper
No Data Analysis info
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Diego Costa of Chelsea celebrates scoring his team's sixth goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Everton and Chelsea at Goodison Park on August 30, 2014
Read Next:
Mourinho concerned over Costa fitness
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Aston Villa167452425-125
7Bournemouth157352320324
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham155372028-818
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!