Thibaut
Courtois insists Chelsea's players have never doubted Diego Costa's
commitment, despite the negative headlines of the past week.
The Spain striker is back in contention to play in the Super Sunday clash
with Hull after being dropped from the squad for last Saturday's 3-0 victory
over Leicester.
Although the official reason given for his absence then was a back injury,
Sky sources understand Costa was involved in a training ground row with
manager Antonio Conte following a £30m-a-year offer from Chinese Super
League side Tianjin Quanjian.
However, Courtois believes Costa was injured and insists the Chelsea squad
have no doubts over his loyalty.
"He has trained very well this week," the goalkeeper said in an exclusive
interview with Sky Sports' Geoff Shreeves.
"Obviously it was not a nice rumour that went around that he had a fight or
anything. He had an injury and couldn't train and obviously if you are not
100 per cent fit and you feel you cannot play it's logic that you don't
train with the team.
"This week he could train again and he trained very well, so he might play
on Sunday.
"He looks very committed, we cannot doubt that about Diego. You can see that
in all games he plays.
"Nobody in this team doubted it, so when the day before the game against
Leicester that came out it was a bit of a surprise to the players but it
didn't affect us in any way because we know what's the truth. The rest is
maybe just trying to destabilise Chelsea, but we don't let it."
And Courtois also explained why he hasn't spoken to Costa about the
situation.
"He was injured, so you don't need to speak with someone," he added.
"You just ask 'are you OK?' and 'can you play on Saturday?' He said 'no, I
feel pain' and then you let it go because you know he won't play.
"After the win we had two days off and he trained here and then he trained
with us so I think everything is OK."
Despite the absence of their leading scorer, Chelsea romped to a comfortable
win over last season's Premier League champions, to banish the memory of
their 2-0 defeat at Tottenham.
That defeat had ended their 13-game winning run and Courtois said it was
important to get back to winning ways immediately.
He said: "If the result hadn't been good they could have doubted us, first
after the loss against Tottenham and as well with that story. Then they can
make stories that it had affected us.
"We were very happy with that win. We showed that the game against Tottenham
was a tough game that you can lose. Think it was a good game from both sides
that day and Tottenham was just a bit stronger than us.
"We showed against Leicester that we are still the team that won 13 times in
a row. Hopefully we can continue on the same run."
Chelsea were seven points clear of the chasing pack going into the weekend
and face rivals Liverpool and Arsenal after Sunday's clash with Hull.
But Courtois says it's too early to start describing Chelsea as
champions-elect.
When asked if the trophy was Chelsea's to lose, he said: "If you're on top
they will say that, but there's still 17 games to go and a lot of points to
win and lose.
"Obviously this month is important for us. You have two big games coming up
after Hull with Liverpool and Arsenal. If you can get a good result against
both of those teams you make the gap maybe bigger.
"There is still a long way to go. Top games is one thing, but going away to
Stoke or Burnley are difficult games where you can lose points."
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