“I haven’t seen it again, I said in the first game he got Gabriel sent off and today he got Mertesacker sent off. He is clever”. Those are only facts. “I think he deliberately ran in front of Per Mertesacker, who hardly touched him”.
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“The team knows it’s a big gap but I always want to see the ambition of the team”. We had to take it on the chin and get on with the job.
The relationship is repaired now, with Costa regaining that mixture of marksmanship and menace that made him so significant in last season’s Premier League title win.
Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink was adamant that referee Mark Clattenburg was right to give Mertesacker his marching orders so early in the game. We had a mountain to climb with 10 men but even then there was enough to come out with a 1-1. “It was a attractive through pass and a red card without any discussion”. “From what I saw (Costa) was tripped”, Hiddink said.
Wenger defended his decision to send on Gabriel for striker Olivier Giroud after Mertesacker’s exit. “Normally you lose a game like that 3-0 or 4-0”, he told reporters.
Nemanja Matic believes Chelsea showed their true colours during Sunday’s 1-0 win against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, and backed them to end the season strongly.
Chelsea are still 14 points behind fourth-place Tottenham but performances have significantly improved since the departure of Mourinho.
“Anything is possible”, Terry said. “Anything is doable. Everybody is beating everybody else”.
“It is a long run and we still have to fight and move forward. I thought it was harsh and we had to cope with it”, he said.
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“There was no doubt”, said Hiddink. “But if my captain says it, we follow our captain”. “As soon as they had the man sent off they sat back, so we pressed up higher and won the ball back”. In addition, it has now been 614 minutes since Arsenal last scored against Chelsea in the league.
