Jose Mourinho has said to "forget Diego [Costa]," as Chelsea prepare for their derby against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday without their suspended striker.
Costa picked up his fifth booking of the season in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Sunderland and was lucky not to be sent off, meaning Chelsea will have to place full faith in Didier Drogba and Loic Remy in midweek. However, Mourinho doesn't feel his absence will influence the team's play.
"It doesn't affect it. We don't speak about Diego," Mourinho told a news conference. "We trust [Loic] Remy and [Didier] Drogba the same way we trust Diego. This is not our way of work. So forget Diego. We trust the other two and we go with the other two."
Mourinho would give no hints as to who would start, but there have been suggestions that it could be Drogba -- who has scored three goals and assisted four more in his last eight Premier League games against Spurs. Chelsea meanwhile have no other absences or injury worries, and the manager said he was hugely looking forward to the game.
"A big game, a London derby, a good team, one of the top teams in the league. We like it," he added. "I don't have to comment on [their progress]. They're just a difficult team we have to play against. That's the only thing that we have to think: it's a difficult match, so be ready for it."
Meanwhile, Mourinho hailed Chelsea's "perfect season" so far, as he said the team would have a "normal" response to Saturday's draw.
That match marked the first time that his side failed to score in this campaign, and also the first dropped points against a side outside the elite, seeing the club under the microscope for the first time.
Mourinho had previously spoken about how his team would be ready to act as soon as they encounter a negative result, and that he could not envisage a "bad period," while he claimed on Tuesday that their response would be in-keeping with the campaign to date.
"Normal [reaction]. Normal. What do you want the team to do or feel when the team is doing a perfect season?" he said. "Top of the league in the Premier League, top of the group in the Champions League, quarterfinals in the Capital One Cup, not losing a match in four months.
"The team has to feel very, very well. When the defeat arrives, we have to feel the same way. We are doing things very, very well and it's not a bad result, when a bad result arrives, that is going to change our self-belief and self-esteem."