Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has conceded that it was always going to be a "risk" fielding Diego Costa in Saturday evening's meeting with Stoke City after seeing his star striker pick up another injury.
The 26-year-old, who recently withdrew from international action with Spain in order to rest his damaged hamstring, was introduced at half time at Stamford Bridge with the game locked at 1-1.
Costa lasted just 12 minutes before aggravating the injury, though, and was forced off to cast a cloud over Chelsea's subsequent 2-1 victory which keeps them well clear at the top of the Premier League.
Mourinho played down fears after the game that the Spaniard could miss the remainder of the season, but revealed that he is likely to sit out at least the next two weeks.
"If the result was 2-0 he wouldn't play. But I have to risk. My medical department had to risk," he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "If the medical department decide to take four weeks, it wouldn't happen.
"But no way am I upset with my medical department and I am not unhappy with the will of the player to try and help the team. From all the scans two days ago, the muscle and image was completely clean.
"The player trained twice at 100%. He did much more in training than he did in the match. The medical department do fantastic things for us. We will wait for Diego again. Next week Loic [Remy] or Didier [Drogba] will play."
Chelsea take on London rivals Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in their next outing.
Daniel Lewis
