When the FA elected to ban Chelsea striker Diego Costa for three matches after his stamp on Liverpool's Emre Can nobody would have expected it to be good news for the Blues.
But three games on, Chelsea have extended their lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League to seven points - and manager Jose Mourinho has a fully-fit striker with a point to prove, raring to go in their Champions League last-16 tie.
Chelsea travel to Paris on Monday to face Paris Saint-Germain, and first-choice forward Costa looked delighted to be making his return to action in their last training session in London.
A draw against Manchester City and wins over Aston Villa and Everton have minimised the impact of Costa's absence and while Zlatan Ibrahimovic and co were battling to a 2-2 draw with Caen on Saturday, Costa was enjoying his last of three weekends without football.
Cesc Fabregas played a full part in the training session and is expected to return to the base of Chelsea's midfield alongside Nemanja Matic after his substitute appearance in the 1-0 win over Everton last Tuesday.
Costa will be a combative presence upfront in direct competition with former Chelsea star David Luiz and his partner Thiago Silva - and Silva has been talking up the contest with the Premier League's top goalscorer ahead of the first leg.
'Diego Costa is one of the top strikers in Europe at the moment. He can play, but also he can do battle as well,' Silva said.
'That is no problem, that is the reason you want to play at this level, to do battle against the best players in the world. He is the sort of player that lets you know he is there, but we will also let him know that we are there as well.'
Source:Dailymail.
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