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Diego Costa will definitely miss out when Slovenian side Maribor come to London on Tuesday evening for the third Champions League match of the season.
One win and one draw from the opening two matches means that Jose Mourinho will want three more points against Group G’s allegedly weakest side.
Our manager did however stress that the Slovenians won’t be underestimated as they are going into the match with a good away record in Europe.
Chelsea team news
Mourinho said on Monday’s press conference that he will pick a strong side for the tie, despite having a clash against Manchester United the coming Sunday.
A win will put us firmly in charge of our group ahead of the trip to Slovenia in a fortnight, and the gaffer will ensure the players are fit and ready to battle it out on Tuesday night.
Diego Costa is still recovering from an injury, and Ramires, Andre Schurrle and John Mikel Obi are also missing out due to injuries.
On the plus side, Didier Drogba is back in contention again after returning as a late sub against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
The Ivorian striker has missed out on a few matches with an ankle injury but is now set to fight for his place again.
Mourinho spoke about the importance of this match:
We have four points in our group which is not bad but we need seven out of these three matches as that gives us a little bit of stability for the second part.
Maribor team news
Maribor have surprised many people in the opening two fixtures this season. With two draws from the Sporting Lisbon and Schalke games, the Slovenians are second in the group.
They are however not the greatest side in the competition, and last season they featured in the Europa League in the same group as Wigan Athletic.
A year ago they came to England to play Wigan, only to be sent home with a 3-1 defeat. In his press conference, Mourinho pointed out their recent Champions League form as a threat.
Maribor have played eight matches in the Champions League [this season] with zero defeats. We are not going to give any favours by resting people or changing the team.
Our goal should always be to win this group and in order to do that a win against Maribor is crucial. Our prediction for the match is a 3-0 win.
