Mourinho: Costa wouldn’t use a bib to hurt me!

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp believes Chelsea striker Diego Costa can’t be changed after the Spaniard’s behaviour in Sunday’s clash against Spurs received flak.

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 have played on the left, on the right, recently in the number 10 role, and I just enjoy playing”.

“I think we have the team again and we look to the future with a better spirit, ” Mourinho said.

“I think we deserved more”.

“I think Diego is very privileged”.

Mourinho preferred to highlight the “fantastic” performance of Eden Hazard, who was Chelsea’s most creative and risky player and, in Costa’s absence, was deployed furthest up the pitch. “I do not expect to have a player on the bench jumping and shouting because he is not playing”.

Costa has scored just four goals in 18 Chelsea games this season, but playing against Bournemouth would be the ideal opportunity for him to significantly improve those figures.

“Diego is very privileged because he was the last one to be on the bench”, Mourinho said.

Meanwhile, the draw left the Premier League champions 15 points behind leader Manchester City and still without back-to-back wins in the title defense.

While Jose Mourinho did not make much of Costa’s actions, not in front of the press at least, it remains uncertain for how long he would be kept out of action from this Chelsea FC team.

Mourinho revealed Costa was ready to play and warmed up when instructed to during the second half. “I am convinced at the end of December we will be in a different position than we are now and shorten the distance to the top teams, and our feeling will be different”.

“Mentally I’m really strong and I try to do everything in these kind of games”. Today we thought this was the best strategy and we are happy with the decisions. It is a good result, we didn’t have many good chances but Lloris made a good save from me.

Chelsea now lie 14th in the EPL standings after a poor start to the season, yet Hazard has dismissed talk of a rift opening between the players and manger Jose Mourinho, insisting everyone is unhappy following their inconsistent start to the campaign. “We will continue to work hard and continue to take pleasure from our game”.

“This is a good thing (that we are disappointed)”, said the Argentine, whose side remain fifth in the table.