Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho confirmed that his side will be without the services of Diego Costa and Loic Remy for Sunday’s clash against Manchester United.
Chelsea ran out comfortable winners against Maribor on Tuesday after which Mourinho revealed, “Loic has a muscular injury. I don’t know the dimension and I’m not worried. We don’t cry on injuries. When a player is injured, play another one.
“It’s our philosophy, we don’t cry. We just think one injury means an opportunity for somebody else.
“We will prepare for the game (against Manchester United) Thursday, Friday, Saturday to try to be at our best possible level against an opponent which we respect very, very much.”
Remy got on the score sheet in the 13th minute after cutting in from the right side and shooting with his left foot. In the process, he seemed to have done some damage to his groin and was immediately grimacing in pain.
Diego Costa too will be a major doubt due to the hamstring injury suffered a fortnight ago. Costa did not feature in the win over Crystal Palace on Saturday and did not make the bench for the game against Maribor either.
This leaves Mourinho with Didier Drogba upfront who scored through a penalty against Maribor; his 1st since returning to the club from Galatasaray. Drogba was handed the chance to score as Eden Hazard gave him the penalty taking duty very generously. However, manager Jose Mourinho wasn’t impressed with the gesture, “I was surprised that Eden Hazard gave the ball to Didier Drogba for the penalty. I wasn’t particularly pleased, no. I have my choices and Hazard is No 1. Because it was a goal, I was happy.
“I don’t like it. They have the freedom to do it. They can do it, but he has to score.”
Drogba has an impressive goal scoring record against Manchester United and will be fairly confident ahead of the clash especially considering the fact that the United defense has been really poor so far. Costa and Remy’s presence will definitely be missed, but even without them, Chelsea have enough firepower to hurt Manchester United.