Independent:
Diego Costa returns to haunt Gunners as Per Mertesacker sees red
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 1
Mark Ogden Emirates Stadium
It just had to be Diego Costa, the pantomime villain who has spent most of the season sulking and under-performing, who delivered the blow which reawakened all of Arsenal’s self-doubt and exposed their shortcomings as potential champions.
Just when Arsenal had the opportunity to bury their Chelsea ghost, to put the belligerent bullies from Stamford Bridge well and truly in their place, they fell short.
Arsenal lost having played the game with 10 men for over 70 minutes following Per Mertesacker’s dismissal for fouling Costa.
But then Arsène Wenger’s reaction to Mertesacker’s red card, by withdrawing Olivier Giroud and persisting with the hopelessly off-form Mesut Özil for 90 minutes, contributed to his team’s defeat. It was as though the sight of Chelsea’s blue shirts had affected Wenger’s thinking and Arsenal’s self-belief.
The end result was the defeat which keeps Leicester City on top of the table and left Arsenal with just two points from a possible nine. Still, Chelsea played like champions once again and if Arsenal can take anything from this result it is the reality that the best, regardless of their form or position, rise to the occasion when it matters.
The previous tensions between the two teams ensured that this encounter was never likely to pass off quietly. Chelsea’s long-held dominance of this fixture – they are unbeaten against Arsenal in the Premier League since October 2011 – ensured Guus Hiddink’s players would fight tooth and nail, regardless of their mid-table position.
Jose Mourinho may have vacated the scene and taken his own particular brand of poison with him. But the bad blood from last September’s clash, when Arsenal ended the game with nine men after the dismissals of Gabriel and Santi Cazorla, has not dissipated with Mourinho’s departure and scores were clearly still to be settled. Throw in the relentless booing of Cesc Fabregas by the Arsenal supporters who once adored the Spaniard and the potency of the cocktail was not in doubt.
It was simply a case of which group of players could handle it better without allowing it to blow up in their faces and, from a very early stage, it was evident that those players were wearing blue.
To say Chelsea have failed to perform this season is something of an understatement, but there was a mood of bloody-minded defiance as they set about denying Arsenal the victory which would return them to the top of the league. The message from Chelsea was clear: if you are going to take our crown, you are going to have to earn it.
Costa, who was given a three-match retrospective suspension by the Football Association as a result of an off-the-ball spat with Laurent Koscielny at Stamford Bridge, was the most determined of Chelsea’s players in terms of defending his honour and he went toe to toe with Koscielny from the off in an effort to impose himself on the French defender. Koscielny gave as good as he got, but the usually measured Arsenal centre-half allowed Costa to draw him into a physical battle, so the Chelsea man had instantly achieved his primary aim.
The tackles flew in – Koscielny on Costa, Mathieu Flamini on Cesar Azpilicueta, Oscar on Joel Campbell – but Chelsea were enjoying it more than Wenger’s players.
And once the dust settled on the physical point-scoring, Chelsea gained control of the game, with Fabregas afforded acres of space in the middle third and Willian enjoying the freedom of Arsenal’s left flank thanks to the inability of Theo Walcott and Nacho Monreal to work together to nullify the Brazilian’s threat.
It was Willian’s pace and vision which led to the key moment of the game, when his through ball to Costa released the forward, only for Mertesacker to bring him down clumsily.
Eighteen minutes into the game, referee Mark Clattenburg had no option but to brandish a red card to the German, whose lack of pace was cruelly exposed by Costa before his trailing leg sent him tumbling to the ground.
Costa again. He is a grade-A pest, a nightmare to play against, but he had got under Arsenal’s skin once more and the ramifications of Mertesacker’s dismissal were borne out moments later when Wenger chose to substitute Giroud in order for Gabriel to plug the hole alongside Koscielny at the back. It was a bewildering decision. Giroud, in goalscoring form, would have given Arsenal a physical presence to shield the ball and alleviate the pressure, yet Wenger instead placed Walcott up front before asking Özil to play the role.
John Terry and Kurt Zouma must have shaken their heads in disbelief, especially when Özil plodded into the position, looking like a little boy lost. And if Gabriel had been sent on to keep Costa quiet, that move backfired too for Wenger, the centre-half losing the Chelsea striker for the crucial split-second as he raced to the near post to volley Branislav Ivanovic’s cross past Petr Cech to make it 1-0.
Arsenal’s mountain had just grown considerably and Chelsea’s supporters gleefully rubbed it in, chanting, “Diego Costa, he’s done you again”.
Now was the time for the response of champions, the gutsy fightback to hammer home Arsenal’s credentials, but with an extra man Chelsea were simply too streetwise and they could have extended their lead when Cech saved brilliantly from Costa at the near post on 42 minutes.
Had Giroud remained on the pitch, Arsenal might have scored themselves three minutes later, but a perfect delivery from Aaron Ramsey was inexplicably directed over by Flamini’s kung-fu kick volley, when a header was the obvious option.
Arsenal attempted to salvage the game in the second half and the 57th-minute introduction of Alexis Sanchez injected more urgency and ambition. But they were only spared the prospect of going 2-0 down when Clattenburg dismissed Chelsea appeals for a penalty after Koscielny had barged Fabregas to the ground. It was reckless challenge, but Koscielny got lucky.
The same could not be said of Arsenal, though, who huffed and puffed until the final whistle without ever truly threatening to score.
Three games without a win now. Is this the annual wobble or a minor bump in the road? It is a question that they really did not want to face at the Emirates.
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Guardian:
Chelsea’s Diego Costa wounds Arsenal after Per Mertesacker’s red card
Arsenal 0 - 1 Chelsea
David Hytner at the Emirates Stadium
Arsenal have made a series of statements this season, as Arsène Wenger plods the long distance towards the ultimate vindication, such as beating both of the Manchester clubs at the Emirates Stadium and even getting a point at Stoke City. Some things, however, never seem to change.
Chelsea remain their nemesis, even without José Mourinho as their manager, winding them up and, well, beating them, and it was another character who they have come to loathe that was the match-winner here.
Diego Costa was involved in a red-card flashpoint – as he was in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in September – but this time, there could be no recriminations. The striker was simply too fast for Per Mertesacker in the 18th minute and, when the Arsenal defender slid in and got none of the ball, there was an inevitability about his dismissal for a last-man foul.
Costa promptly showed the clinical side to his game in front of goal, when he pounced to meet Branislav Ivanovic’s cross and steered a shot beyond Petr Cech. He is back in business after his toils during the Mourinho implosion, with a sixth goal in six matches under the interim manager, Guus Hiddink.
It set Chelsea on their way to a sixth win over Arsenal in nine meetings, excluding the Community Shield – the other three have been drawn – and Hiddink’s only criticism of his players could be that they failed to find the killer second goal. Cesc Fàbregas was outstanding, setting the tempo in midfield and impressing with his poise and vision while Willian was also dangerous.
Arsenal’s regrets centred upon the red card and Wenger blustered about the decision from the referee, Mark Clattenburg, as having been “quick and harsh”. Yet he was simply angry that his team had been forced to confront such streetwise opponents with 10 men for so long. It made for what he suggested were exceptional circumstances and deepened the sense of regret.
Wenger felt that Chelsea might have been there for the taking had his team retained 11 players but the visitors were comfortable even before Mertesacker’s dismissal, with Oscar and Willian working Cech. Arsenal could point to a miscued volley from Joel Campbell and a half-chance for Mathieu Flamini, which went begging, before Mertesacker stretched into the challenge that would shape the game.
He never looked like getting to the ball first, following Willian’s probing pass for Costa on the counterattack and, in what felt like the blink of an eye, the Chelsea striker had tumbled into a series of exaggerated rolls and everybody inside the stadium knew what was coming next.
Costa took five minutes to salt the wound. Wenger had made the decision to sacrifice Olivier Giroud for Gabriel Paulista – the replacement defender that he needed – and, if the Emirates crowd did not like the substitution, Giroud was even less happy. The striker gestured with his outstretched arms and initially dragged his heels as he made his way off, until Flamini came across to chivvy him along. Mertesacker and Giroud would be spotted in their club suits behind the Arsenal bench during the second half.
Gabriel versus Costa rekindled memories of the clash at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, in which the former had been sent off for a little dig at the latter; Costa’s reaction that day had sealed the deal.
Gabriel was not up to the pace of the game when Ivanovic drove over a cross and how Costa made him pay. Tip-toeing in front of him, Costa touched home at the near post before pointing out the name on the back of his shirt to the Arsenal supporters.
Chelsea might have been further in front by the interval only for Cech to save from Costa at the near post and Nacho Monreal to clear off the line from Ivanovic’s header. And yet they could, equally, have been level. Following Aaron Ramsey’s smart dink over the top, Flamini – all alone 10 yards out – flew at the chance like Hong Kong Phooey out of a filing cabinet. To loud groans, he lifted his flying kick over the crossbar.
Fàbregas has been referred to as a rat and a snake during what has been a trying season and his every touch was booed by the fans of his former club. But he responded in fine style and he might have had a penalty on 56 minutes when Laurent Koscielny checked him inside the area. Clattenburg was unmoved.
Costa played the pantomime villain to the last. He had gone down in need of treatment for a slight knee injury, to the scorn of the home support, when his number went up and Loïc Rémy prepared to replace him. Costa had the treatment, got up and walked off at low speed. He would raise his hands to applaud the Arsenal crowd before strolling away down the tunnel.
Wenger played his trump card with the introduction of Alexis Sánchez on 57 minutes for his first football since 29 November and a hamstring tear, and the forward made a difference. But it was not enough of one. He had Arsenal’s one flicker of a chance in the second half following a scramble only to swing and miss his kick. The full-time whistle brought several Arsenal players to their knees. They know all about losing to Chelsea but this one cut them to the core.
Man of the match Cesc Fàbregas (Chelsea)
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Telegraph:
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 1
Per Mertesacker is sent off before Diego Costa scores winner at Emirates Stadium
Arsène Wenger's side are defeated by first-half goal from Diego Costa
Jason Burt
The sight of Petr Cech lifting three Arsenal players – Laurent Koscielny, Gabriel and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – off the turf after the final whistle summed it up. This was an encounter when Arsenal were floored; a damaging defeat and a real test of their character to see how they respond.
It was one of those games to which they are prone, also; one of those games when things conspired against them, when the wheels buckled beneath them, and just as they are on the brink of making an emphatic statement it is, cruelly, they who suffer the psychological blowout.
It will have hurt even more that it was Chelsea and Diego Costa who inflicted it. The striker has become Arsenal’s new nemesis, taking up the mantle from Didier Drogba who bullied and terrorised his way to 15 goals in 15 games against Arsenal. A consolation? At least Jose Mourinho was not sitting in the opposition dug-out.
It was not the only consolation. Arsenal are emphatically in this title race, just three points behind Leicester City, and they kept going despite being reduced to 10 men in the 18th minute. They welcomed back Alexis Sánchez from injury and Francis Coquelin has returned to training and will soon be ready to replace the far less disciplined Mathieu Flamini who was given the runaround by his friend Cesc Fabregas and also missed Arsenal’s three best chances. It was that kind of game.
It is just eight points from 18 for Arsenal and, although that does not look good, if this is their wobble it is not causing too much damage. Yet. But how they could have done with not losing this one as it is a result that re-opened wounds Arsène Wenger will not want to re-visit.
The statistics are bad. It is nine matches now since Arsenal beat Chelsea in the league; it is six matches since they even scored a goal against them. And Per Mertesacker’s red card was the fourth they have suffered in five matches against Chelsea.
It was a dismissal that provoked debate but looked the right call by referee Mark Clattenburg. Yes, Costa rolled and rolled and rolled but Mertesacker impeded his run, he denied a goal-scoring opportunity and he could have no complaints.
The Arsenal captain was exposed. Except for this game he was not the Arsenal captain with the armband passing to Theo Walcott who is celebrating 10 years at the club. But was it an occasion to do that? It may have made no difference but it did not look professional. Mertesacker’s foul was. He was caught out and paid the price – and the central defender knew it.
Costa’s run was clever but so was Willian’s through ball – after the impressive midfielder had burst forward, riding Nacho Monreal’s tackle – to pick out the striker who had smartly pulled away from Koscielny to the slower Mertesacker.
Quite why Mertesacker then glanced across to the assistant referee Simon Beck before making the challenge was unfathomable. He hoped for offside, of course, maybe he hoped Koscielny was closer, but he lost a split second – and that mattered – and then had to lunge. Costa went over; Mertesacker went off.
here became even more febrile. But the cool heads were in Chelsea shirts. This was a game when John Terry was imperious, Fabregas incisive, Costa irrepressible. There was industry and aggression from Willian and Oscar and a nod of approval from caretaker manager Guus Hiddink whose only complaint was that Chelsea did not kill it with a second goal.
But that is also a reflection of where they are right now. If Chelsea had lost this game they would have lurched towards a fresh crisis; a bout of introspection and anxiety over the prospect of relegation. Instead, once more, they felt emboldened to talk about climbing the table with Terry pushing the envelope by mentioning a tilt at the top four. What a difference one game can make.
In fairness this was probably Chelsea’s best performance of the season after two indifferent home displays that followed their previous best performance of the season away to Crystal Palace. Their recovery remains a slow burner but the flame is flickering.
Hiddink’s emollient approach, with a bit of urbane spikiness also, is certainly coaxing more out of Costa. His goal capped a mad five‑minute period with Mertesacker’s sending off and then Wenger reacting by bringing on Gabriel. That made sense – he needed another centre-half – but he sacrificed Olivier Giroud. The striker was astonished while the Arsenal fans were angry.
If Wenger’s decision was tactically logical – down to 10-men he knew his team would have to play more on the counter and he wanted to use Walcott’s pace – it nevertheless sent out the wrong message. It spoke of damage limitation.
There was also the problem of Gabriel who had been dismissed in the reverse fixture earlier this season after being provoked by Costa and the Brazilian did not appear to know how to react this time round.
Instead, he failed to react. As did Koscielny. It came as Nemanja Matic’s cross was allowed to bounce the length of the penalty area to be collected on the other flank by Branislav Ivanovic who whipped the ball in towards the near post. There was Costa to tuck a close-range shot past Cech. It was Costa’s fifth goal in five games – after scoring three in his previous 14 – and Cech then denied him with a fine save, having also beaten out a Willian shot, before Monreal cleared Ivanovic’s header off the line and Koscielny was fortunate not to concede a penalty as he body-checked Fabregas.
For Arsenal, Flamini slipped when given a sight of goal and then volleyed over. Twice the ball pin-ponged around the Chelsea area with, again, Flamini failing to make sufficient contact. Hiddink inflicted the heaviest defeat – 4-1 – Arsenal have endured at the Emirates Stadium during his first spell at Chelsea in 2009. The question is: has he now inflicted the most damaging?
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Mail:
Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea: Diego Costa makes Per Mertesacker pay for early dismissal by scoring winner five minutes after red card
By MARTIN SAMUEL FOR THE DAILY MAIL
As he made his way with impudent sloth to the touchline, derision filled the evening air. Boos and catcalls, familiar gestures of anger and impotent rage.
And then the response from the blue corner. ‘Diego Costa — he’s done it again,’ the Chelsea end crowed. And he had. Drawn the red card. Again. Got the goal. Again. Got right up Arsenal’s hooter. Again. It was just like old times.
The result was a traditional one, also. A Chelsea win. These teams have met 27 times competitively in 12 seasons and this was Chelsea’s 16th victory, with seven draws. The last 12 goals, in league fixtures, have belonged to Chelsea too, and it is five years since Arsenal beat them at home.
Do Arsenal have the nerve to win the title this season? Maybe. But they don’t appear to have the steel required to see off Chelsea.
They behave uncommonly around those blue shirts, too. They get sent off, they dry up. The game was almost over before Arsenal mustered a shot on target and even then it was the result of a goalmouth scramble rather than any precision manoeuvre from the training ground.
Not many teams will drop six points to Chelsea this season, but Arsenal are the first.
And while they may curse bad luck and Costa’s dark side for the defeat at Stamford Bridge, the buck stops with the home team here. Per Mertesacker made a dreadful decision leading to his dismissal, which handed the advantage to Chelsea. His replacement Gabriel failed to pick up Costa for the goal and the architects of Arsenal’s season such as Mesut Ozil were ineffectual.
Cesc Fabregas ran the game for Chelsea in midfield, aided as ever by the tireless Willian, and was unfortunate not to win a penalty when bodychecked by Laurent Koscielny after a beautiful run in the second half. That Nemanja Matic gave away a foul, and was booked, for an identical challenge on Alexis Sanchez in midfield soon after illustrated the inconsistency.
True, Arsenal were down to 10 for 72 minutes of the match but, even handicapped, they knew what they had to do after half-time and disappointed. Their best chances were scrappy scrambles with opportunity coming by fortuitous deflection rather than invention. Leicester will have looked at this with quiet satisfaction. Everyone thought they would be the ones to blink first but Arsenal have now taken eight points from 18 in their last six league matches.
And so to the call that changed the game. By popular consent, Petr Cech is the best goalkeeper around here since David Seaman. So, knowing that, why didn’t Mertesacker trust him to deal with Diego Costa in the 18th minute, even one on one?
When a quite lovely pass from Willian put Costa through, Mertesacker’s lack of pace left him floundering. At that point, however, he still had a choice. Lunge, risk missing his tackle, and play the inevitable game of red-card roulette with Mark Clattenburg, the referee, or chase Costa, applying as much pressure as possible and hope that Cech would do the rest.
The worst that could happen, in those circumstances, would be that Arsenal went a goal down, against a team that started the day in 14th place, with 70 minutes to retrieve the game. Instead, Mertesacker pressed the self-destruct button.
As usual, when things happen in a rush, there was the debate about whether Costa was taken out, clipped, dangled a trailing leg or merely fell over taking evasive action. It really doesn’t matter. Mertesacker’s tackle was wild and did not allow Costa to continue his run on goal.
Clattenburg did the right thing. He saw Mertesacker as having denied Chelsea a goalscoring opportunity and dismissed him. The angry reaction of the locals probably had more to do with the involvement of Chelsea’s bogeyman than any true sense of injustice. Had it been the other way around, they would have been howling for a straight red.
Quite why Mertesacker was looking over at Koscielny or a linesman when he made the challenge is a mystery, too.
Perhaps he was trying to calculate offside or his odds of being judged the last line of defence. If so, he got those wrong, as well. Arsene Wenger said Costa got Mertesacker sent off. He didn’t. Mertesacker got Mertesacker sent off and, in doing so, he walked a well-trod path.
It is the seventh time in the Premier League that an Arsenal player has been dismissed against Chelsea, who have a way of getting under red skins and, momentarily, Arsenal lost their way.
Wenger’s reaction to the calamity — removing Olivier Giroud for a centre half, Gabriel, was not well received, and Gabriel’s first involvement was, frankly, calamitous.
He had been on the pitch barely a minute when Branislav Ivanovic whipped in a cross from the right, which Costa met at the near post, getting across Gabriel, and forcing the ball into the net.
Costa is back to his best, no doubt of that, recording more goals and assists under Guus Hiddink than he did in 16 league games with Jose Mourinho this season. Make of that what you will. Arsenal rallied, in terms of possession but not chances, and Chelsea could have moved further ahead shortly before half-time.
Another beautiful ball from Willian — Chelsea’s player of all the season, not just a fraction of it — found Costa but Cech saved well at the near post. From Willian’s corner, Ivanovic’s powerful header was cleared off the line by Nacho Monreal.
Arsenal had one good first-half chance before being numerically disadvantaged, and one after it.
In the second minute, a cross by Theo Walcott — honorary captain on the day after 10 years at the club, hooked late on having had a disappointing afternoon — deserved better than a skewed finish from Joel Campbell.
Then, with the last attack of the half, a neat chip from Aaron Ramsey was met by Mathieu Flamini, beating the offside trap but not his own frailty in front of goal, choosing an ambitious volley which troubled only those departing early for a consoling cup of tea.
Sanchez appeared after half-time but by now Chelsea were in default resist mode.
It is taking no credit from interim manager Hiddink to describe this as a Mourinho performance in its structure. Sitting in front of the back four Matic and John Mikel Obi invited Arsenal to try to find a way through six, plus Thibaut Courtois.
There were occasional scares. In the 64th minute, the ball struck Cesar Azpilicueta on the back and pinballed around the area before Kurt Zouma fired it upfield.
In the 86th minute, a deflected flick from Flamini at last forced Courtois to make a save, before Monreal shot wide.
Chelsea now have the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League — seven games — but it is slow going.
An away win at Arsenal elevated them a single place, to 13th. Still this is a different team — ‘12 new signings’ as Alan Shearer waspishly observed — to the Chelsea on display in the first half of the season.
Mind you, even that lot beat Arsenal. Tells you something, doesn’t it?
MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS, PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE BY OLIVER TODD AT THE EMIRATES
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Cech 6, Bellerin 6, Koscielny 4.5, Mertesacker 2, Monreal 4, Flamini 4, Ramsey 5, Campbell 5 (Sanchez 57mins, 6), Ozil 5, Walcott 5.5 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 75, 5), Giroud 4.5 (Gabriel 22, 5.5)
Subs not used:Ospina, Gibbs, Chambers, Elneny
Sent off: Mertesacker 18
Booked: Flamini
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois 5.5; Ivanovic 5.5, Zouma 6.5, Terry 6.5, Azpilicueta 5.5; Mikel 6, Matic 6; Willian 7, Fabregas 8.5, Oscar 6.5 (Hazard 77, 5.5); Costa 8 (Remy 68, 5.5)
Subs not used: Begovic, Cahill, Baba, Loftus-Cheek, Traore
Goal: Costa 23
Booked: Oscar, Matic, Mikel
Referee: Mark Clattenburg 5.5
Attendance: 60,072
Match ratings by Oliver Todd
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Mirror:
Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea: Diego Costa nets the winner after Per Mertesacker dismissal – 5 things we learned
BY JOHN CROSS
Arsenal and Chelsea. Chelsea and Arsenal . It's a dance as old as time itself.
Jose Mourinho may be gone (again) but the Stamford Bridge side were at it again on Sunday afternoon, seeing off their old rivals 1-0 in north London.
Not for the first time, Diego Costa was the hero/villain of the piece. The Spain striker was involved in the game's turning point after just 18 minutes, drawing a foul from Per Mertesacker, who was sent off.
Costa then rubbed salt into Arsenal wounds, firing past Petr Cech after some lax defending from the home side.
John Cross was at the Emirates for this one. Here are five things he learned:
1. Diego Costa could beat Arsenal on his own
So, did we learn this? No. But it confirmed from what we found out in September.
Back then, Costa got Gabriel sent off in a game which also saw Santi Cazorla get his marching orders as Arsenal finished with nine men.
So it’s hardly surprising that Costa was the biggest influence at the Emirates as well.
Costa was taken down by Per Mertesacker, the Arsenal defender saw red and then Costa scored the opener. Good job, Diego. Your work here is done. In a scrappy, nasty, snarling game, there’s few better players to have on your team.
2. Arsenal’s mentality will again be seen as their biggest flaw
Have they got the mentality to win a title? Do they have enough spirit and strength? Well, after this game it’s a fair question.
These big games are the ones where you find out about focus, strength of mind and determination. It also helps you send out a message that you can win big games, you can pass the big tests.
Yet again, Arsenal were found wanting. They’ve won some big games - notably against both Manchester clubs at the Emirates this season - but this was yet another one which will raise more questions about their mentality.
3. Per Mertesacker's lack of pace is an issue
Well, he was never quick off the mark. But the red card against Costa exposed his pace – or lack of it.
Maybe, just maybe, referee Mark Clattenburg reached for his pocket because he knew Mertesacker against Costa was such a mismatch. Was there contact? There was some doubt.
Mertesacker has been brilliant for Arsenal. No doubt about it. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. But, as Arsenal look to evolve and strengthen each summer, maybe Mertesacker will find himself eased out, By Gabriel at first and then possibly a new signing in the longer term.
Just to tease Arsenal fans, they had Sol Campbell on the pitch at half time. How they could do with him now.
4. Theo Walcott is captain material
Nice touch by Arsenal. They gave Walcott the captain’s armband, he led the teams out and tossed the coin before kick-off.
It is to mark his ten years at the club. It’s a touch sentimental, granted. But it probably made Walcott feel proud and, ultimately, Per Mertesacker - who would normally captain the team - was happy to pass on the honour.
But can you really afford sentiment in such a big game? And does it make a difference? The answer is probably no to both.
5. Chelsea have still got what it takes
When in the mood, Chelsea are still an incredibly good team. The Premier League table might suggest otherwise, but the squad which won the title at a canter last season is still there.
They must find some consistency, unity and some new players.
But the core is still there. They just need to play Arsenal every week.
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Express;
Arsenal 0 - Chelsea 1: Diego Costa stuns the Gunners again after Mertesacker sees red
DIEGO again. Arsenal must be sick of the sight of him. The nagging, supremely irritating wasp that keeps buzzing around them and refuses to be swatted away.
By TONY BANKS
After they meet Burnley at home in the FA Cup on Saturday, Wenger’s side face resurgent Southampton at home, a tricky trip to Bournemouth, and then Leicester at the Emirates on Valentine’s Day. The psychological damage from this defeat might be huge. It could be a broken heart on February 14 if this sloppy performance is repeated.
The hoary old statistic was that Wenger never beat Jose Mourinho while the Special One was in charge in his two spells at Chelsea. Mourinho has gone and it is cuddly old Guus Hiddink in charge – and still Arsenal struggle. It is now 572 minutes without a goal against Chelsea in the league over three years, nine games.
Wenger admitted beforehand that if his team had a mental block about playing Chelsea, they had to shrug it off. They manifestly failed to do so.
And it was not just the supremely bolshie Costa who was to blame. Chelsea produced their best league display of an admittedly wretched season, and the former Gunner Cesc Fabregas, booed at his every touch, was at the very heart of it.
Fabregas has had a poor campaign but he ran the game; his passing astute, his movement clever, his previously doubted determination right to the fore.
And of course, there was Diego. Recovered from a bruised shin injury in time to play, the Spaniard was at his best; tireless, aggressive, but more importantly, in the right place at the right time.
As befits a team who started the game just four points off the relegation places, Chelsea started nervously. But Arsenal simply handed them the match, their passing sloppy from the off.
Joel Campbell wasted a first-minute chance as he miskicked, and Chelsea were sharp on the break. Willian burst through the middle and released Costa. Mertesacker turned with the speed of an oil tanker, looking vainly for an offside flag, and then scythed down the Chelsea forward.
It was a clear red card – Arsenal’s fourth in five League games against their cross-capital rival – and at that moment the match began to slip away from Wenger.
It slipped further when Branislav Ivanovic crossed from the right and Costa got ahead of substitute Gabriel at the near post to slot home.
Wenger had removed Olivier Giroud, much to the crowd’s fury, though the Frenchman was nursing an ankle injury. Often then it was only Mesut Ozil leading the line.
BBC pundit Alan Shearer tweeted during the game: “Looks like Chelsea have done the best bit of business in the window with 12 new signings.” It was a reference to the fact that this same set of players had barely lifted a leg for Mourinho towards the end of his tenure.
This Chelsea were often deadly on the break. Cech turned Willian’s shot around the post, but Arsenal’s best chance arrived on the stroke of half-time as Mathieu Flamini volleyed Aaron Ramsey’s cross over the bar.
Fabregas should have had a penalty as Laurent Koscielny barged him off the ball inside the area but Chelsea were by this stage being pinned back. A great block by Kurt Zouma denied Koscielny, and then goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois foiled Flamini again.
A battered Costa then limped off, taking an age, to Wenger’s anger. But as the Gunners threw themselves forward, that vulnerable defence once again threatened to undo them.
Chelsea wasted a golden chance when Eden Hazard could have put Loic Remy through but fluffed his pass, and then Willian dragged his shot wide.
The ghost of Mourinho is still haunting this fixture. And certainly Arsenal’s defence.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Cech 6; Bellerin 6, Mertesacker 5, Koscielny 6, Monreal 6; Flamini 7, Ramsey 7; Campbell 6 (Sanchez 57, 6), Ozil 6, Walcott 6 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 75); Giroud 6 (Gabriel 22, 6). Booked: Flamini. Sent off: Mertesacker. NEXT UP: Burnley (h) Sat, FA Cup.
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Courtois 7; Ivanovic 7, Zouma 7, Terry 7, Azpilicueta 7; Mikel 7, Matic 6; Willian 8, Fabregas 7, Oscar 7 (Hazard 77); Costa 7 (Remy 63, 6). Booked: Oscar, Matic, Mikel. Goal: Costa 23. NEXT UP: MK Dons (a) Sun, FA Cup.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg.
================
Star:
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 1: Costa foils Gunners again as Mertesacker sees red
DIEGO COSTA once ran over his own dog by mistake. Yesterday, he flattened Arsenal’s back four on purpose.
By Paul Brown
The pain he inflicted on the Gunners in their own back yard was all pre-meditated, and he enjoyed every minute of it.
The Chelsea striker bullied, harassed and embarrassed Arsenal the way Didier Drogba always used to, and he got his reward, getting Per Mertesacker sent off and then scoring the winner.
It must have felt like Groundhog Day for Arsenal when Mertesacker got his marching orders for a professional foul on the Spain striker in the 18th minute.
After all, Costa had also got Gabriel sent off for kicking him when the teams last met in a 2-0 defeat in September in a game where he also clashed repeatedly with Laurent Koscielny.
Arsenal ended that match with nine men and major questions being asked about their title credentials.
They ended this one with 10, but the questions were the same.
This was the first time they had lost at home in 10 league games. But it’s three without a win now for the Gunners, and that is a worry at such a crucial time of the season.
When Costa went off injured before the end, it was to a chorus of boos from the home fans and chants of “Diego! Diego!” from the away end.
Straight-faced, he applauded all four stands as he took his time leaving the pitch. Pantomime season was over weeks ago. But he clearly still loves playing the villain.
Nineteen points separated the two sides going into the game. But Chelsea actually went into it on the longest unbeaten run in the division.
It looked like boss Guus Hiddink had set his stall out not to lose this one either, toughening up his midfield by playing John Obi Mikel and Nemanja Matic together.
But the visitors could have gone in front when Ceasr Azpilicueta swung in an early cross from the left.
Willian met it first time only for Mertesacker to block his shot, and when the ball came back to him he could only force Petr Cech into the tamest of saves.
Then came the pivotal moment. Willian broke free down the middle and with Mathieu Flamini back pedalling, the Brazilian picked out Costa.
He was clean through, and Mertesacker slid in to bring him down while bizarrely looking at the linesman at the same time.
Chelsea players were quick to surround him and whether or not that pressure made a difference, they got their wish. Out came the red from referee Mark Clattenburg.
Replays showed there was little or no contact, and Costa went to ground theatrically. But Mertesacker was foolish to go diving in, and you could see why Clattenburg gave it.
There was disbelief around the Emirates when Wenger reacted by bringing off striker Olivier Giroud and sending on defender Gabriel, with Mesut Ozil ending up as a false nine.
But disbelief turned to anger when Costa nipped in front of the substitute to slam home a close-range opener from a Branislav Ivanovic cross.
The Spain striker tested Cech again with a shot the former Blues man tipped wide, and Nacho Monreal cleared off the line when Ivanovic got his head to the resulting corner.
Flamini then found himself clean through at the other end after a wonderful lob from Aaron Ramsey but made a mess of his flying volley and skied it high over the crossbar.
Cesc Fabregas, who looked something like his best again in this game, was denied a penalty at the start of the second half when he was barged over by Koscielny.
But this time Clattenburg waved away the appeals, and as the game got more and more niggly Costa seemed to leave a foot in on Ramsey.
Wenger threw on Alexis Sanchez in a bid to rescue things, and when Thibaut Courtois flapped at a routine cross, a goalmouth scrambled almost resulted in an equaliser before the ball was cleared.
In fairness to Arsenal, they gave it a go, and were laying siege to the Chelsea goal in the dying stages even with 10 men. But the damage had already been done.
