We must manage without suspended Diego Costa, says Matic

Nemanja Matic believes that Chelsea must learn to play without top scorer Diego Costa after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season. The striker will now miss the clash with Bournemouth on Boxing Day.

Costa was decisive in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday and his header in the 44th minute was enough to bring all three points back to Stamford Bridge - as well as to record his side's record-equalling 11th win in a row. 

Antonio Conte will likely call upon Michy Batshuayi to replace Costa on Boxing Day, but Matic believes that Chelsea need to learn to play without their top scorer to continue their title charge. 

"We don’t have Diego and Kante for the next game. We will have to cope with that," Matic said at Selhurst Park.

"We have situations like this during the season and also the other teams will have their own problems.

"We will have to continue, even though they are important players for us. The next game we play at home so we have to give our best to take all three points. 

"Everyone [in the squad] is important, as we know in football, because you never know who is going to play the next game. I am very happy because you can see in training everyone is physically ready and they are going to be important for us. 

Costa's 13 goals this season meant that Conte has not yet handed Batshuayi a Premier League start, but Matic thinks that the Belgium international is ready to step up against Bournemouth.

"He is a great player," Matic added. "He works very hard every day and has qualities, for sure."