Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Chelsea: Jose Mourinho hopes Diego Costa has rediscovered goalscoring form

Jose Mourinho hopes Diego Costa's goal in Chelsea's 1-0 over Norwich City at the weekend will see him regain confidence for the Champions League clash with Maccabi Tel-Aviv on Tuesday 24 November. The under-fire Portuguese boss, meanwhile, scoffed at suggestions he wanted to sign Leicester City's in-form Jamie Vardy, despite his strikers struggling to find the back of the net during a poor start to the campaign.

The Blues have travelled to Israel ahead of fifth round of Champions League group stage fixtures, following a much-needed win over the Canaries that saw Costa score his fourth of the season.

"For a striker it's always important to not go for a long time without scoring,, because they feel the pressure," Mourinho said when asked about Costa. "For him I think scoring the winning goal can have a positive influence."

Vardy, meanwhile, equalled Ruud Van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games during Leicester's 3-0 win over Newcastle United, moving his side to the top of the table. But asked about the England international in a press conference, Mourinho said as quoted by BBC: "I don't want to analyse the boy because if I do you will get my words and you will put them into a different perspective about me wanting to sign him. I don't want to sign him.

"But a super striker like Ruud van Nistelrooy did something historical in the Premier League and Vardy has the chance to exceed it."

The Blues sit in the second place in Group G, three points behind leaders Porto, having secured seven points from their first four games. The Premier League champions hammered Maccabi 4-0 in the home leg back in September, but Mourinho refuses to take anything for granted.

"Tomorrow is simple: if we lose, we are in trouble. If we lose we depend on other results," he said. "If we get a draw we can qualify in the last game, but we cannot be first. If we win, maybe we qualify tomorrow and we have a big chance to finish first. We need points tomorrow. We are playing to qualify so the game is more important for us."

Mourinho also played down Chelsea squad concerns over security in Israel following the terrorist attacks in Paris. Graeme Le Saux, Marcel Desailly, Emmanuel Petit, William Gallas, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Albert Ferrer refused to travel with the squad back in 2001 for a game against Maccabi in the aftermath of the 11 Septmber attacks in New York.

But the boss said: "I didn't have a single problem within the squad. I didn't have a Graeme Le Saux. I had everybody without fears, just wanting to come.

"I even had a player whose wife is going to have a baby either tomorrow or the next day but he's here, focusing on what he can do for us. So we're here focusing on getting a result. We need that for our happiness, our pride and the people who support us."