Mourinho anxious over Mikel, Luiz fitness

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is hoping at least one of David Luiz or John Obi Mikel is fit to face Galatasaray on Wednesday.

Luiz and Mikel were both absent through injury for Saturday’s dramatic 1-0 Premier League victory over Everton, which saw captain John Terry mark his return from a muscle strain with an injury-time winner.

With January midfield recruit Nemanja Matic ineligible for the UEFA Champions League, Mourinho is keen for his options not to be further depleted when Chelsea travel to Turkey for the first leg of Wednesday’s last-16 tie.

“We have three days so let’s see,” said Mourinho after the Everton game.

“With Mikel and David Luiz, I don’t know if they can recover. It’s important we have at least one of them because we don’t have Matic for the Champions League.”

Mourinho also offered an update on minor injuries to Oscar and Ramires.

The latter was introduced as a half-time substitute against Everton, after Oscar failed to shake off a pre-game complaint.

“It’s not a dangerous one, just a painful one,” said Chelsea’s boss of Oscar’s injury. “He said he could cope with the situation, clearly he couldn’t.

“Ramires had a similar situation to Oscar, I tried to protect him and not play him but the game demanded I play him. Clearly, though, he could cope with the situation.”