Furious Jose Mourinho has admitted Chelsea have been rocked by Diego Costa’s three-match ban ahead of this weekend’s trip to Newcastle.
The Blues manager watched his side cruise to a 4-1 Capital One Cup victory over Walsall tonight to set up a fourth round tie with Stoke City next month.
They had to beat the Saddlers without Costa as the fiery Spaniard sat out the first of three fixtures after being hit with a suspension by the Football Association as they took retrospective action.
While Costa was banned, Arsenal’s Gabriel Paulista was cleared by the governing body to send Mourinho into meltdown.
Mourinho said: “I don’t know if the squad can cope (with Costa’s ban). Every time you lose a player it’s not good for the team and it’s easier to accept an injury.
“An injury is part of the game and we have to be mentally ready for that. But this kind of situation goes much, much, much, much more deeply and the team is hurting, obviously.
“I don’t play, score goals, tackle, recover balls for my team, but on the bench my communication is positive and after losing a player I don’t want the team to lose a manager as well. I prefer to be quiet.
“I don’t comment (more) because if I bring examples and go deep and bring feelings into the discussion a big suspension for me will be waiting and I don’t want that. The team doesn’t need that.
“We know something which is that retaliation is allowed now. You can do it.”
Kenedy was handed his full Chelsea debut at Walsall and marked the occasion by netting his first goal for the club in an impressive performance.
There were concerned Blues fans in the crowd as he hobbled off in the second period but Mourinho confirmed the player only had a slight calf problem.
Chelsea's 4-1 victory at Walsall in pictures:
