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| Thibaut Courtois is in contention to return following a three-month absence |
JOSE MOURINHO has confirmed that Thibaut Courtois is available for selection after three months out with a knee injury.
The Belgian goalkeeper has been out of action since the 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on 29 August but Mourinho admitted he will return to the team for tomorrow’s home match against Bournemouth, as he described the 23-year-old as the best goalkeeper in the world.
“Courtois is selected,” Mourinho said. “I didn't tell them [if he will strat], so they must be the ones to know. But he's selected.
“Courtois is Courtois. To miss Courtois for a couple of matches, we knew we had good protection in a good goalkeeper [like Asmir Begovic].
"But to lose your best goalkeeper for three months, and 19 matches in all competitions... 19 matches without the best goalkeeper in the world. It was hard for us. Now we are again in a super situation by having the best and a very good one.
"I don't know (if he starts). I have to speak with him and make a decision. But, sooner or later, he will be my number one. If not tomorrow, then against Porto [on Wednesday].”
“Courtois was our goalkeeper all last season, and we know how fundamental he was for us. So it's very important that we have him back.”
Mourinho also revealed that John Terry, Ramires and Radamel Falcao are all still out, but that Nemanja Matic will play wearing a mask because of a double fracture to his nose and cheek suffered in Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Tottenham Hotspur.
And the Chelsea boss feels tomorrow's clash with Bournemouth can be a turning point in the Blues season, especially as Chelsea have avoided defeat for three consecutive games for only the second time this season.
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| Jose Mourinho believes the clash with Bournemouth can be a turning point for Chelsea |
“It's important, because there are clean sheets and clean sheets," he said. "These were good ones. Not lucky ones. As a team, they performed really well: good discipline, communication, reading of the game. Good clean sheets.
“I have to be cautious because the Premier League is the Premier League, and you don't know what's waiting for you around the corner.
"But the reality is the run was really bad and we were really strong as a club, as a technical staff, as a squad of players, to cope with that and try and go over it.
"Bad results, but with good performances, we kept our faith, stability and belief. And then, finally, last week we got three positive results in a row. Let's try and build on that. December can be a good month.
"We play four matches at home, three in the Premier League and one in the Champions League. We go away against two of the top three teams, United and Leicester, matches where you have nothing to lose and everything to win. So December can be a good month.”
The Chelsea boss played down headlines regarding Diego Costa, who didn’t come on in the 0-0 draw at Spurs and was then photographed leaving Chelsea’s Christmas party at 3am on Thursday morning.
He added: “I don't know why. For me, no question marks. Always played. Was on the bench one match, which is more than natural. No problems. No problems at all.
“I think the paparazzi had a problem with their memory cards [at the Christmas party]. There were 25 players inside and they only got three.
"The ones who came out before Diego were not on the memory cards. The paparazzi also had to go early because a lot of the others were there after Diego left. It was almost a free night for them, and we know that and chose a week without three matches."
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