KURT’S CRACKER
Costa under fire from Arsenal, but Zouma’s first goal boosts Chelsea
DIEGO COSTA was the subject in question and the conversation went back and forth. ‘Should he have been sent off?,’ Jose Mourinho was asked for a third time.
‘I think you should be speaking about Gabriel Paulista,’ he said, virtually spitting the words out in fury. ‘He made a mistake.’
So what was Mourinho’s assessment of Costa’s role? ‘Man of the match for me,’ he said, again with equal defiance.
And, of course, he was right, just not, perhaps, in the way he intended.
This game was the epitome of what the Premier League has become. The theatre was as much in the postmatch analysis, both managers trading insults with each other and their respective teams.
And yet there is no doubt that Costa turned this clash in Chelsea’s favour. Arsene Wenger’s team were lured into a fight they could never win, a street-wise scrap. They lost their heads and consequently the game, ending up with nine men.
Yet even though Gabriel and Santi Cazorla’s red cards were legitimate, a powerful sense of injustice pervaded. That is just how it is with Costa; he gets right under your skin. And so it is with Chelsea. With just the one victory in the Premier League before kick-off, they had to find a way to win; any way would do.
The pivotal incident occurred at the end of the first half. Costa’s arms were all over Laurent Koscielny’s face as they battled; another pass came and he slapped at the Frenchman’s face, his first potential red card.
Costa fell but sprung up and body checked Koscielny to the ground, a potential second red card. Gabriel, incensed, grabbed Costa around the neck and aimed a slap. He might have gone off for that but referee Mike Dean decided a yellow card a piece sufficed.
Like squabbling toddlers, each desired the last word. Costa had it, emphatically. Whispering into Gabriel’s ear, he provoked a flick of the foot from the Arsenal defender, reminiscent of David Beckham’s in 1998; not especially offensive but enough to be seen as violent conduct.
What looked bad for Dean was that he delayed as the Chelsea players harangued him before producing the red. When it was shown, Gabriel could barely control himself and only the constraining presence of team-mates prevented him from landing himself in more trouble.
‘This is my question,’ said Mourinho, using his favourite trick of turning on inquisitors. ‘I played my first derby in September, 2000: Benfica against Porto. And I told my players before the game you need emotional control. Without emotional control, forget it. We don’t win.
‘If you want to speak about Diego Costa with me it’s just to say he played like he has to play and that’s why you have full stadiums and you sell to television around the world for millions and millions; because the game has to be played like that. That’s why tomorrow I will go to a match I consider comparable in terms of dedication and passion: New Zealand and Argentina.
Invoking the spirit of rugby to cover the multitude of Costa’s sins might have been a jarring analogy. Rugby produced ‘Bloodgate’, but in general it’s never a sport as streetwise as football.
Costa undeniably plays with passion but had Dean done his job, he would have been sent off and then who would have been crowing about emotional control?
Unsurprisingly, thatwasWenger’s view. ‘Costa can do what he wants and he stays on. Everyone else who responds to him has to be sent off. It’s unacceptable. He always gets away with it. I don’t understand Mike Dean’s decision at all. Why does Diego Costa stay on and Gabriel is sent off? For me, he is always provoking and also uses the naivety of Mike Dean in this game.’
Mourinho had his riposte to hand. ‘I played against Arsenal 15 times and only once he didn’t moan. And that day we lost the game, we lost the Cup. No excuses. Not crying, not moaning.’ The last laugh always seems to go to Mourinho.
After an absorbing first-half which produced few chances, the solidity Arsenal had shown broke down quickly once they were down to 10 men. With Calum Chambers replacing Francis Coquelin, who had been an excellent spoiler, their vulnerabilities were soon exposed.
On 53 minutes, Cesc Fabregas sent over a perfect looping free-kick although Nacho Monreal and Alexis Sanchez should share the blame as to how Kurt Zouma was in so much space to firmly head the opener.
Thereafter, Arsenal struggled to get back on the front foot and when the ball did finally drop for Sanchez on the hour, after a mistake from Gary Cahill, the Chilean misfired horribly.
Olivier Giroud and Alex OxladeChamberlain were introduced to spark a late flurry. That strategy was undone when Cazorla slid into win a loose ball outside the box, and caught Fabregas’s shin high on 79 minutes. Having incurred an earlier yellow, a second was inevitable.
Chelsea scored a second when Eden Hazard snapped up a loose ball and shot against Chambers, who deflected into his own net. But the contest had long since ended by then and Wenger could only despair and rage against perceived injustice.
Mourinho? There wasn’t even the merest sign of a smirk.