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Premier League
Aug 8, 2015 at 5.30pm UK
 
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Live Coverage: Jose Mourinho's weekly Chelsea press conference

Follow Sports Mole's live coverage of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's press conference ahead of his side's first match of the new Premier League season.
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Jose Mourinho has admitted that he does not know whether Diego Costa will be fit to play in Chelsea's opening match of the Premier League season.

The striker has been struggling with a hamstring injury, and is yet to train ahead of tomorrow's clash with Swansea City.

The manager also revealed that he is still looking to sign a left-back.

Read what else he spoke about below.


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Good afternoon! The Premier League champions will be getting ready to start the defence of their title in a little over 24 hours time with a home match against Swansea City. Jose Mourinho will be looking ahead to the fixture shortly.

It's been an interesting pre-season for Chelsea, who head into the start of the league campaign without a win inside 90 minutes under their belts, although they did beat PSG and Barcelona on penalties in the International Champions Cup. Arsenal beat them 1-0 in the Community Shield last weekend, while a youthful Chelsea side lost 1-0 to Fiorentina during the week.

It's been a quiet transfer window for Mourinho so far. Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has come in, along with Brazilian star Nathan and Danilo Pantic from Partizan. Petr Cech, Filipe Luis, Didier Drogba and Gael Kakuta have all departed.

There is one more new player for Chelsea though, as they've brought Radamel Falcao in on loan from AS Monaco. He had a difficult loan spell at Manchester United last season, and has only featured a couple of times in pre-season:
Chelsea's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao runs with the ball during the FA Community Shield football match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in north London on August 2, 2015© Getty Images

With the manager due any minutes, there's just time to remind you that we'll have build up ahead of this match from 4.30pm tomorrow, as well as live updates throughout, post-match anaysis and loads more, so make sure you're here for that.

Mourinho has just arrived in the media centre, so let's see what he has to say this week.

Mourinho is asked about Diego Costa's availability for tomorrow's match after the striker missed the Community Shield. The team is yet to train today, and when asked if the Spaniard will be involved, he manager simply says: "I don't know, I promise you."

Expanding on Costa's involvement and his striker situation, Mourinho adds: "I think he'll train. His reaction to that and confidence to play is another story. When he plays, he's [equivalent to] 1.5 [strikers], he compensates."

Turning his attention to the transfer window, Mourinho admits: "We need a left-back, the board knows that and my feeling is that we are going to have one."

That left-back could be Everton's John Stones, as he has been linked with the champions. Toffees boss Robert Martinez hasn't been happy about the proposed move. When asked about the Spaniard's comments, Mourinho quips: "If I could I would only speak to the media once a month, but there are some in football who want to every day."

On his aims for the season, Mourinho says: "We'll try to be a good team, and be here in March or April speaking about winning something."

Mourinho is asked again about Costa's injuries, which also blighted his first season with the London club, but he insists: "I prefer a top player who is sometimes injured, than one who is always available but only a bit better than me."

The manager thinks that it's going to be a competitive season for all 20 teams in the top flight: "I believe the teams who are not title contenders will be stronger this year, and the gap between the top and the others will be shorter."

That's it from Mourinho this week, as he heads off for a 5.30pm training session with his squad to make sure they're prepared for the later kickoff tomorrow. Mourinho didn't appear to be in the chattiest of moods today, but it was interesting to hear his comments on the oft-injured Diego Costa, who remains a doubt for this weekend.

So, that's it for our live coverage of Mourinho's press conference, but join us again in just over 24 hours as we'll be building up to the champions' opening match of the season. Until then, thanks for joining me this afternoon. Goodbye.

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Chelsea's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao runs with the ball during the FA Community Shield football match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in north London on August 2, 2015
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