Petr Cech will make his first Premier League start of the campaign for Chelsea against Hull City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday after Thibaut Courtois suffered a minor groin injury in training to hand the veteran his opportunity.
The Czech international, who had been the club’s undisputed first-choice for a decade, has been limited to just 56 minutes of top-flight football to date this term having been usurped as No1 at Stamford Bridge by Courtois’ summer arrival after a three-year loan spell at Atlético Madrid. Cech, whose last Premier League start was on 13 April at Swansea City, came off the bench against Arsenal in October when the Belgian sustained a head injury in a collision with Alexis Sánchez, but his other club outings this term have been limited to Champions League group games and fixtures in the Capital One Cup.
“Courtois had a little problem in training, a muscular problem, and is not available for tomorrow,” said José Mourinho ahead of the visit of Hull. “But it’s a chance for Petr and a chance for Mark [Schwarzer] to be on the bench. So I’m more than comfortable.
“It’s a minor problem for Thibaut. I don’t think it’s important [for Cech to restake his claim for a first-team place]. It’s just consequence of being an important player in the squad who had our confidence even with Courtois in conditions to play. We played Petr in three Champions League matches and every game in the Capital One Cup, and we know what we have.
“He doesn’t need to prove anything to me, the club, to his team-mates or to the supporters. He has absolutely nothing to prove. It’s just an easy simple situation for him, go and play, which is what he wants to do and has done throughout his career.
“It’s very comfortable for me, the players and the fans to know that our goalkeeper tomorrow is Petr Cech. For us, no problem. For him, it’s his natural habitat to be in goal and not on the bench. So we are all comfortable with it. That’s why, since the beginning of the season, it’s perfect for me to have Petr in the squad.”
Chelsea will knock back any offers for Cech, 32, in January with Mourinho eager to retain two goalkeepers he considers to be “world-class” in the ranks. “I don’t think it’s possible [for him to leave] and I read his agent saying there’s no chance of leaving Chelsea in January,” the Portuguese said. “That, plus the fact that I have no information about any offer to him, makes me believe 100% that he’s staying. I repeat: I’m so happy that we have this fantastic situation with the goalkeepers.”
One Chelsea player out on loan, Fernando Torres, will not be returning to the club in January despite struggling to make an impact to date at Milan. The Spain forward, a £50m British record signing when he joined from Liverpool in January 2011, has managed a solitary goal in 10 league games for the Italian club since joining on a two-year loan deal – over which time his contract at Stamford Bridge will expire – and has been dropped for recent fixtures to provoke suggestions the Rossoneri may seek to cancel the deal. It is understood there is no option within the deal to render the agreement between the clubs null and void.
Asked if Torres could leave Milan, Mourinho said: “No. He’s on loan for two seasons at Milan. He’s our player but he’s on loan. We have no space. We have no space for players in our list, either in the Champions League or the Premier League. That’s an impossible ‘picture’. But I have to say that nobody from Milan has made contact with us thinking about that possibility, so probably nothing is true. More than possibly, he’s happy at Milan and Milan are happy to have him.”
The Egypt winger Mohamed Salah, who made his first Chelsea start of the season outside the Capital One Cup against Sporting Lisbon in midweek, will not depart Stamford Bridge next month. “Salah is our player, a player we like and trust, a player from our squad who is going nowhere,” added Mourinho. “He doesn’t go, for sure. Maybe he moves house. Maybe he moves house, but not club.”
