LONDON -- Thibaut Courtois will miss Chelsea's match at home to Hull City on Saturday with a "minor" muscle injury, Jose Mourinho has confirmed.
The injury, which is set to keep the goalkeeper out of only this game, means Chelsea will be without two key players for the match, as midfielder Cesc Fabregas is suspended.
"He had a little problem in training, a muscular problem, and is not available for tomorrow," Mourinho said of Courtois.
As such, Petr Cech will stand in for his first Premier League start of the season, and Mourinho expressed full confidence in his second-choice keeper.
"Very comfortable for me, for the players, for the fans, to know that our goalkeeper tomorrow is Petr Cech," he said. "For him, his natural habitat is to be in goal, not on the bench. We are [in a] comfortable situation."
On Fabregas' suspension, he added: "That's why we don't speak about him. That's not the point. Just our philosophy. If he doesn't play, he doesn't play.
"Obviously, he's been amazing for us and is playing fantastically well, [but] he is suspended for tomorrow, so we don't think about him. We trust the other people that's going to have a chance to play."
The absences do mean that some of Mourinho's core will get rest given that he has a higher number of ever-present players than any other manager in the Premier League. The Portuguese stated that situation will likely end as his squad sees more rotation over the Christmas period.
"I don't think one player will play six matches," he said, adding that some may play five games, but all would be granted at least one match off.
The squad will also be given two days off on Wednesday and Thursday next week, following the Capital One Cup quarterfinal against Derby County.
"[It] allows players to go home," he said. "Maybe not South American ones, because that's very far, but the ones around England, Belgium, France, Germany, [with] two days off, have a chance to at least go [and] have nice dinner with their families. It's the only two days I can give them because we play Tuesday against Derby. I give them Wednesday and Thursday, and after that they come back Friday to play Monday."