Costa’s hamstring injury to be assessed by national team doctors in MadridHe is expected to miss Euro 2016 qualifier but return for match against Stoke

Chelsea expect Diego Costa to be fit for their Premier League game against Stoke immediately after the international window despite the forward’s anticipated withdrawal from the Spain squad for their games against Ukraine and Holland with a hamstring injury.

Costa, who was omitted for Spain’s games against Belarus and Germany in November when he was struggling to overcome niggling hamstring and groin complaints, hurt his thigh again during Chelsea’s win at Hull on Sunday and departed 15 minutes from time. The Brazilian-born striker had scored his side’s second goal, his replacement Loic Remy swiftly registering the winner, but appeared in some discomfort as he limped from the pitch seeking treatment.

He underwent scans on the hamstring at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground on Monday before travelling to Spain’s base in Las Rozas, 25km outside Madrid, having been requested to do so by the Spanish football federation. Costa will be seen by the national team doctors there and if, as anticipated, they confirm Chelsea’s diagnosis, the forward will fly back to London later on Tuesday.

Spain are planning to be without the 26-year-old, with Vicente del Bosque having taken the precaution of calling up Málaga’s Juanmi for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Ukraine, while Chelsea are hopeful two weeks without a match should allow Costa, who will not face any retrospective action for his clash with Hull’s Jake Livermore despite the incident not appearing in the referee’s match report, to feature against Stoke.

Sources at the Spanish federation insist a lack of trust is not behind their decision to oblige Costa to be assessed by their own doctors, however there remains the possibility of further conflict between club and country.

There have been regular tensions between Chelsea and Spain this season over Costa’s availability, most notably when the 26-year-old played in the qualifiers against Slovakia and Luxembourg despite a niggling hamstring injury and was ruled out of four games for Chelsea after the October international break.

The club are acutely aware of Costa’s apparent susceptibility to hamstring issues and are assessing how best to manage the problem over what remains of the season in the hope they can avoid surgery in the summer. While an operation is still an option, they may instead push for the player to be granted the entire summer off following the end of the Premier League campaign at the end of May, which would impact on his availability for Spain’s qualifier in Belarus on 14 June.

Juanmi, who has scored seven goals in 24 games for Málaga this season, linked up with the European Championship holders in Madrid on Monday evening hoping to gain his first cap against Ukraine. The striker will compete with Juventus’s Álvaro Morata and Pedro of Barcelona for a place up front, with Valencia’s Paco Alcacer having also been ruled out having only recently recovered from a knee injury.

The Spanish are second in Group C on nine points, three behind Slovakia and level with Ukraine. They play Holland in Amsterdam in a friendly next week.