Guus Hiddink dismissed concerns over Diego Costa’s fitness by insisting the Spain striker will be available for Chelsea’s crucial Champions League clash with Paris Saint Germain on Wednesday.
Costa missed Saturday’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Stoke as he rested to avoid aggravating a tendon injury, but Blues interim manager Hiddink is confident his star forward will return for the last 16, second leg against PSG.
With the French champions holding a 2-1 lead, Hiddink can’t afford to be without the in-form Costa, especially as Chelsea laboured without him in a match that prompted the Dutchman to dismiss their top four hopes as “impossible” and set his sights on success in Europe and the FA Cup.
“Diego had a problem on the tendon, that’s why I was cautious not to worsen the situation, but I think he will be OK on Wednesday,” Hiddink said.
“I think the top four is difficult, almost impossible especially when other teams are knocking on that door.
“I am very respectful of the likes of West Ham who got a good result today (at Everton). On the other hand we know where we came from in December, one point off the relegation zone, and amazingly we got safe in a relatively short time.
“We got into mid-table which normally for Chelsea standards is not enough. But if we can go into a very beautiful March and April that would be nice in the Champions League and FA Cup.”
Bertrand Traore, the exciting 20-year-old from Burkina Faso, started in attack in the absence of Costa, and justified his manager’s faith with his second Premier League goal, a spectacular left-footed shot from 20 yards six minutes before the break.
But Stoke pushed Chelsea all the way and were rewarded five minutes from the end when Mame Diouf headed into an empty net after Thibaut Courtois failed to claim Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross.
“Traore showed in parts of the game he has the quality,” said Hiddink. “It is a bit different to start at Stamford Bridge.  
“Young players need control and to dominate their nerves. But he showed with the goal he has a capacity to do a lot.
“We have some young players in the team and they compete in a healthy way. If they show what they can do in training they will be rewarded.
“The match was frustrating, it is always frustrating to concede a late goal. But you can say we started rather sloppy in the first half and after 15-20 minutes we had more composure. We scored a beautiful goal through Traore. But they have got some very creative players and in the end it was a fair result.”
Stoke manager Mark Hughes revealed he was going to take off Diouf before his goal. “I felt we deserved a point,” he said. “Arguably we felt a little bit hard done by.
“We had opportunities, certainly first half, which we didn’t convert, unfortunately. And lo and behold we get done with a sucker punch just before half-time.
“You can be a bit deflated, but in fairness it was the complete opposite reaction.
“I basically told them to keep doing what you are doing and second half was more of the same.
“As the half progressed, I felt Chelsea looked to play on the counter attack and we had more control of the game possession wise. And there was a feeling in the stadium that we were the more likely team to get the next goal.
“I was a little bit fortunate because I was going to take Mame Diouf off just before he scored. That’s the fortune you need.
“All-in-all, we have once again come here and shown real belief. That’s the first point, I think, Stoke have got from Stamford Bridge since 1984.”
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