THE HAND OF DIEGO

Wenger: Costa always gives us trouble

SO OFTEN for Chelsea he was the scourge of Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal stars.

Tonight Diego Costa is back from injury, intent on stalking the Gunners in a bid to wreck a potential fairy-tale end to the season.

The romantic end for Wenger, after 22 years and 250 European games, would be to lift the Europa League trophy in France next month.

The nightmare scenario would be for Costa to again do what he has done in the past to such devastating effect – winding up the Wenger boys before taking advantage.

The Atletico Madrid striker is without a goal in his last seven games. But Wenger (right) is determined not to allow him to end that drought against his side.

“In the past he has shown he can make a difference,” said the Arsenal boss. “He was very successful in England. Our job is to keep him quiet and the way to do that is to play more in their half.

“My target is to get to 251 games. I believe we are coming to a place with a good history in Europe but we know exactly what we need to do.

“We know what we need to do and that is an advantage.”

Costa will be ready to rumble against a defence that threw away a glorious chance to settle the tie in

London. Antoine

Griezmann netted for Atletico’s 10 men to cancel out Alexandre Lacazette’s early goal.

Boss Diego Simeone now wants his men to feast on Arsenal’s fragile confidence, with the pressure all on the Gunners.

“Maybe they will have more anxiety as they need to score.” he said. “We will try to be well organised. We will try to be direct and blunt and live every second to

the maximum intensity, knowing how important each ball is.

“We need positive energy and the stadium to explode. We have a huge will to get to the final.” That explosive energy has seen Simeone banished from the touchline.

But Wenger is refusing to be intimidated by the man 20 years his junior, who remains among the many candidates for his job. “Every manager has his own personality and he is doing extremely well.” said the Frenchman. “Simeone tries to influence his team in a positive way. “He’s won championships and played in Champions League finals but I don’t focus on going head to head. We need to score and play in a positive way.”