Diego Costa set to miss Chelsea's games against Manchester United and Arsenal with hamstring injury

Chelsea striker Diego Costa came on as a second-half substitute but suffered a hamstring injury within 11 minutes

Chelsea striker Diego Costa is set to miss at least two weeks of action after he sustained a hamstring injury in the Blues’ 2-1 win over Stoke City at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s next three games in the EPL are against Queens Park Rangers and two crucial matches against Manchester United and Arsenal.

The Spain international had earlier injured himself in their last game against Hull City which saw him miss out on La Roja’s matches against Ukraine and Holland. Although Costa started on the bench against Stoke, he was brought on as a substitute in the second half by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho but lasted only 11 minutes before he signalled to the bench that he couldn’t continue.

Mourinho defends decision to play unfit Costa

The 26-year-old striker will have another scan on Tuesday to determine the extent of his injury, but Mourinho was resigned to losing him for at least two weeks.

“It’s too early to determine how long he’ll be out, but it’ll be two weeks for sure,” he said.“But we still have seven weeks of the season to go so, half of it, he has to be with us.

While questions were raised regarding his choice to play a striker who had just returned from injury and was clearly not ready, Mourinho defended his decision.

“I wouldn’t say it was a gamble playing him because we did every test, and the muscle was clear. The player trained two days, 100%.

“The medical department were convinced he was ready. The player was convinced he was ready, not to play for 90 minutes but to help the team if needed.

“As a manager, you have to risk things tactically, and the medical department has to do the same if they want to be top a medical department like ours.”

Mourinho does not blame medical team for clearing Costa

He also defended the club’s medical department after they cleared Costa to play.

“A [play it] safe medical department can’t work with me: a department which says an injury of two weeks needs one or two months cannot work with me; people with fear who cannot take risks cannot work with me.

“They are fantastic, but today, between them, the player and myself, things didn’t happen the best way.”