NEMESIS DIEGO RILES WENGER
ARSENE WENGER was once again left to fume about Diego Costa as Arsenal blew their chance to climb back to the top of the Barclays Premier League. Costa scored the only goal after Arsenal had been reduced to 10 men following Per Mertesacker’s trip on the Spain international to deny him a clear run on goal. Wenger said: ‘Mertesacker made the challenge but I said he got Per sent off. You cannot say it’s not true. ‘In the first game he got Gabriel sent off and today he got Mertesacker sent off. ‘It was quick and harsh. I didn’t know if Costa was offside or not or if Mertesacker touched him or not. I would have to watch it again. ‘But a fact is a fact. I do not accuse him of anything. It’s just what happened. ‘Costa has got two players sent off in two games on our side. So he’s clever.’ Arsenal have collected four red cards in their last five Premier League games against Chelsea. At Stamford Bridge in September, they finished a bad-tempered encounter with nine men against Jose Mourinho’s team, having lost Santi Cazorla and Gabriel, who had been embroiled in a tussle with Costa. Arsenal, three points behind leaders Leicester, mustered only one shot on target and have not beaten Chelsea in the Premier League since 2011. Wenger tried to take some positives: ‘We played with 10 men. We were 1-0 down straight away. Normally, you’d lose a game like that 3-0 or 4-0. ‘We come out with a lot of regrets because we couldn’t play with our team. ‘There was a lot of room to beat Chelsea looking at them, if we’d had 11 players.’ Meanwhile, Chelsea hope to increase their firepower with the signing of Brazil forward Alexandre Pato. The English champions were last night finalising a deal for the 26-year-old to join from Corinthians on loan, with a possible permanent switch to follow. Once dubbed the Brazilian Lionel Messi, Pato scored 63 goals in 150 games during six years at AC Milan where he lifted the Serie A title in 2011, before returning to Brazil three years ago. After scoring 26 goals on loan at Sao Paulo last season, Pato is ready to test himself in England.