Mourinho keeps Costa on bench as Chelsea draw with Spurs

The Spaniard then sulked on the bench for an hour before eventually warming up on the touchline.

Costa did warm up briefly in the second half, only to angrily return to his seat and appear to throw his bib in the direction of his manager. It narrowly missed the manager.

“I was tempted not to touch the team because the team was risky”. Today we thought this was the best strategy and we are happy with the decisions.

Chelsea were in Champions League action, but on Tuesday, while Spurs had far less time to rest ahead of the Premier League game at White Hart Lane.

But Mourinho said he had no problem with the attitude of Spain worldwide Costa.

“A top player going on the bench, they are not happy”, Mourinho said.

It clearly angered the striker, who tossed his bib towards Mourinho as the game neared its conclusion, but Mourinho said: “If he wants to hurt me, it’s not with a bib”. I don’t like my subs to warm up. “I think we deserved a bit more than what we got, but I am really happy with the performance”. The superb cross came from Branislav Ivanovic, but Hugo Lloris was positioned to slap Hazard’s shot wide.

“Let’s talk about Hazard, reaching that header in the first half in the box, or that volley in the second half”. This was their first clean sheet away from Stamford Bridge in the league this season.

The Blues attempted just one shot on target in this match – their lowest tally in a PL game since April (1 v QPR on 12 April 2015).

Chelsea are now languishing down to the 14th spot in standings, with just four wins from the 14 games which they have played. We won against Norwich, we drew here and we play a good game at home next week which we have to win.

“No, no I don’t think it was fair”.

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“I learned how to live without the happiness of winning matches”, he said.

“The debate is down to my productivity this season, which is not as good… well really nowhere near as good as last season”.