Having been handed almost a month off through suspension and an international omission, Diego Costa has been using his spare time to battle back to fitness in a bid to revive Chelsea's season.
The volatile striker was slapped with a three-match ban for violent conduct by the Football Association after clashing with Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny last month, before being dropped by disappointed Spain boss Vicente del Bosque.
Aside from a Champions League outing away at Porto, Costa has been confined to Chelsea's Cobham training HQ for four weeks, but he makes his return against Aston Villa on Saturday.
And the lack of match action has left the 27-year-old to focus on his fitness after he admitted starting the season overweight and out of shape as the champions faltered from the off.
Costa has been working under a training plan tailored to him, focusing on restoring the form that made him one of the Premier League's most feared forwards last season.
'It has been really important for me,' Costa said of the break imposed on him.
'I have been able to train with my own specific schedule to help me get better and better.
'The sessions have been good and I have been able to benefit from being here. I have been working on what I needed to work on and I am happy about that.'
With his star striker having scored just twice this season, manager Jose Mourinho will be desperate to see Costa offer a real threat against Aston Villa on Saturday.
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