Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has confirmed that striker Diego Costa has completely recovered from his injury problems and will be having no trouble over the coming Christmas period.

Mourinho has been involved in a war of words with the Spanish national team for reportedly worsening the condition of his star striker.

Costa has made a fantastic start to his Chelsea career after already scoring 10 league goals. This has propelled the Chelsea to the top of the table with a comfortable advantage over the chasing pack like Manchester City.

Costa missed four Chelsea games after the September international break due to a hamstring injury that he picked up playing for the national side. In spite of the fact that Spain were firm favourites to win the match in Sweden, Costa played the full 90 minutes instead of being rested at halftime.

Mourinho has not been happy with the fitness levels of the players since the start of the campaign, but Costa has played through the pain barrier nonetheless. He now says that the two-week break provided by the internationals have helped the Chelsea medical team get Costa to full fitness.

Mourinho has been criticised in Spanish quarters of having a huge influence on Costa and Fabregas, who both pulled away from the international duty citing injury problems. Chelsea have as much as 10 games between now and December. Mourinho accepts that this is a very tough time for players, but he is not prepared to rest them.

“Diego has totally recovered. He had a little holiday, with a Chelsea physio, for two weeks so even then he was working many hours per day with our physio. After that he came back, he keeps going in the right direction. We feel he’s free of his old injury. We go match by match, but the way he trains and expresses himself in training, he has a free mind. He’s free of fears at this moment. He’s good at this moment. Am I going to protect him? No way. He plays. When he’s fit, he plays,” said Mourinho.