Diego Costa may have made an electric start to his Chelsea career, leading the Premier League scoring charts already, but the Blues may struggle to rely on the Spain international for the whole season.

The Brazilian-born forward endured an injury-plagued end to last term with Atletico Madrid, which led to a miserable World Cup, and has been struggling with various problems in recent weeks, notably withdrawn from the Roja squad for their Euro 2016 qualifier.

Costa was then omitted from the starting XI to face Schalke on Wednesday night, with Jose Mourinho revealing that his star forward is unable to play so many games so close together as Chelsea prepare to wrap the 25-year-old in cotton wool.

"Diego Costa is not in a condition to play three matches in a week," said the Portuguese after the side's 1-1 draw with the Bundesliga strugglers.

"He has problems at this moment. When he plays one game he needs a week to recover to be in condition to play in the next game. We play now in midweek – he can’t do it."
Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:00

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