Courtois counting the Costa of Diego’s Chelsea suspension

With 16 goals in all competitions this season, Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois admits the Blues will miss star striker Diego Costa when he serves his one-game suspension.

The 28-year-old Spaniard had gone 10 games without a booking, but saw yellow for a tackle on Joe Ledley during Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, on Saturday.

Antonio Conte’s side will also be without midfielder N’golo Kante when they take on Bournemouth on Boxing Day, who also picked up his fifth booking of the season in the Selhurst Park clash.

And Courtois acknowledged the impact of going a game without current Premier League top scorer Costa, but identified Michy Batshuayi as an able replacement.

“It’s a big blow because he’s a top striker,” Courtois said. “He scored his 13th league goal of the season and he’s in top form.

Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

“He’s been one booking away for many games now, so if he’d had a bit more luck he would have stayed like that until the New Year, when it’s gone, but hopefully Michy, or whoever the manager plays there, will do well.

“For the manager, it’s not easy to choose players. With Cesc [Fabregas], Michy, Pedro [Rodriguez], [Branislav] Ivanovic and [Kurt] Zouma we had a good bench and to be champions you need not only 11 players, but 18 or 22, the whole squad.

“We have a good team and we try to prove that every week.”