Injured Costa out for 'a couple of weeks minimum', says Mourinho

The Spaniard lasted just 10 minutes before limping off after coming on as a substitute against the the Potters at Stamford Bridge, and may be out for the rest of the season

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says Diego Costa will be out for "a couple of weeks minimum" after he limped out of the Blues' 2-1 win over Stoke with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

The Spain international began the game on the bench but lasted just 10 minutes after arriving as a half-timesubstitute

, having aggravated a long-standing problem.

When asked how long he expected the striker to be sidelined for, Mourinho told Sky Sports: "I don't know but for sure, muscular injury, a couple of weeks minimum. But lets see what happens.

"To be fair, the important [thing] is the three points today."

Mourinho conceded in the run-up to the fixture that Costa was not a certain starter, and the Portuguese admits that he took a risk in sending the 26-year-old into the fray, while confirming that goalscorer Loic Remy will continue in the starting XI against QPR next week.

"You have to risk, and the medical department risked a little bit, but the truth is that in all the scans they did two days ago - not even yesterday - two days ago, the muscle was clean, the image was completely clean, and the player trained twice," he added.

"He trained twice 100 per cent, where he did much more in training that he did today. He did much more in training than today.

"He shot lots of times, we put him in dozens and dozens of specific actions in the game and the response was very good. We decided to protect and if the result was two or three-nil he wouldn't play and we would give him one more week.

"But we risk. My medical department is fantastic and they do fantastic things for us during the whole season, so no problem, and next weekend plays Remy, plays Drogba we will wait for Diego again."