Chelsea overcame a stiff opposition at Stamford Bridge in order to inch closer to the Premier League title even though Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City mount the pressure. A brilliant goal by Charlie Adam enabled Stoke City to level the match before Loic Remy scored the winner. But Jose Mourinho is more concerned with Diego Costaa s injury which has rendered him unavailable for the coming weeks.
There were doubts regarding Diego Costaa s fitness before the game but the striker was still brought on at half time to tilt the game in Chelseaa s favour. However Costa had to be taken off 13 minutes into the second half and speaking after the match, manager Jose Mourinho defended his decision to field the Spanish striker.
a We did every test, we did every scan. The player trained two days 100 per cent with the team. The medical department was convinced he was ready; the player was convinced he was ready – not for 90 minutes but to play and help the team.a
The manager highlighted the importance of taking risks while claiming that a safea medical teams, riddled with fears, cannot work with him.
a The same way as a manager I sometimes have to risk things tactically, the medical department has to do the same if they want to be a top medical department like ours is.a
a A safe medical department cannot work with me. A medical department that says an injury of two weeks needs one month cannot work with me. Safe people, people with fear, cannot work with me.a
a My medical department is fantastic. Today, between them, the player and myself things didna t happen the best way, but Ia m happy with that because ita s football.a
Regarding the extent of the injury, Mourinho revealed that the striker needs to undergo a series of tests but believes that he will be out for a couple of weeks.
a Ita s too early [to say how long he will be out]. He has to go home, wait 48 hours and do all the scans again. He will be out for sure for a couple of weeks. We have seven weeks and eight matches until the end of the season, so for sure for half of it he has to be with us.a
Jose Mourinho spoke about the game and stated that Stoke City provided them a tough opposition as the pressure was mounting after Arsenala s win over Liverpool.
a Ia m happy with the points and the performance. We didna t play better because the opponent produced a very good defensive performance; we didna t play better because when we had the 1-0 advantage, instead of building another kind of performance with more confidence and stability, we immediately conceded a goal.a
a 1-1 at half-time brought everything back to a difficult situation for us. We started the second half the same we started the first half, against a very good defensive team who were very well-organised and had lots of strong bodies behind the ball.a
However Mourinho claims that he is not depending on the other teams to drop points but instead is looking to win his own games in order to win the title.
a There was pressure because we needed to win six matches. We are not doing our countdown based on the points second, third and fourth lose, because we cana t expect that.a
But Mourinho didnt seem too upset after the narrow victory and claimed that though it is important to play well consistently throughout the season, during the title run in, it is more important to win 3 points than worry about the final result.
a At this moment a victory is a victory. Yesterday I sent an SMS to (Aitor) Karanka. They won 1-0. I told him 1-0 in April is like 10-0 in November.a
a For us ita s no different. You win titles playing very well during the season but when you go into the countdown ita s about winning. The most important thing today is our countdown went from six victories, one point, to five victories, one point.a