Chelsea team news: Thibaut Courtois in match squad for Bournemouth clash, Jose Mourinho confirms

Injury: Thibaut Courtois has been missing from action for the last three months after knee surgery
IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images
Vaishali Bhardwaj4 December 2015

Jose Mourinho has revealed goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will make his long-awaited return to the Chelsea squad against Bournemouth this weekend.

Courtois has been missing from action after he suffered a knee injury and then underwent surgery in September, with Asmir Begovic filling in for the Belgian since then.

But after an intense rehabilitation period - in which Courtois has regularly kept fans updated about his condition through social media - Mourinho has revealed the goalkeeper will be part of his team to face Bournemouth on Saturday although he refused to confirm whether he would start the match.

"I didn't tell him but he is selected for the group," Mourinho said on Friday.

"It's been a long, long time. It's been too long. Now we feel better. We have him, we have [Asmir] Begovic and we are safe.

"He was our goalkeeper all last season. It's very important that we have him back."

He added: "To miss him for a couple of matches, we knew we had good protection in a good goalkeeper but to lose your No.1 for three months - it was something like 19 matches in all competitions without the best goalkeeper in the world - it was hard for us.

"We are in a super situation by having the best and the very good one. Sooner or later, he will be my No.1. If he doesn't play against Bournemouth he will start against Porto."

Mourinho, however, confirmed that John Terry, Ramires and Radamel Falcao will miss out on the game at Stamford Bridge through injury.

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