Chelsea FC captain John Terry has been ruled out of Saturday’s game however, as have midfielder Ramires and striker Radamel Falcao.
Advertisement
The Belgium global has not played for Chelsea since the end of August after undergoing knee surgery and has missed the majority of the club’s disastrous start to the season.
When asked whether the 27-year-old would regain his place in Chelsea’s starting line-up, Mourinho said: “I don’t know, but he’s selected”.
“Thibaut was our keeper all last season and you know how fundamental he was”. I kept him in the team for all these matches and today we thought the best strategy to play was this one.
“Meanwhile, striker Diego Costa could also return after being an unused substitute at Tottenham last Sunday”.
When axeing him from last weekend’s game against Spurs, Jose Mourinho called on Costa to “read the game better”, and my only surprise at that stance was that it took him so long to take action.
Mourinho said: ‘It was their dinner – their night. The Cherries twice recovered from seemingly lost causes – the second deep into stoppage time – to earn a 3-3 result against the Toffees, salvaging a vital point in their bid for Premier League survival. For me no question marks.
“19 matches without the best goalkeeper in the world was hard for us”.
It now remains to be seen whether Costa will be recalled for the meeting with a Bournemouth side who are struggling to establish themselves in the top tier following their promotion from the Championship last season.
Mourinho said: “I would say a bit, but not much”.
Mourinho’s golden rule for the first-team squad is that they are not allowed to drink alcohol or even have late nights out 48 hours before Chelsea games – a rule that the Blues trio were certainly testing by partying late into the night on Wednesday.
“Now we are again in a super situation”.
Advertisement
“I can not say better than ever because normally he trains very well but it’s been a good week for him”. Eddie Howe could set them up to squash the play and force Chelsea into playing it long. And the training session was very good for everyone. Realising the extent of the tension within the squad around the end of October, the Portuguese purposely sought meetings with some senior players to calmly hear them out and talk things through.
