“Boring, boring Arsenal” and ‘1-0 to the Arsenal- were famous chants from rival fans in those days, while other successful spells from the likes of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona have been led primarily by the team’s creative and goal scoring prowess, but in general you need to do all parts of the game well to win a major trophy, especially the marathon that is a domestic league.
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Costa has proved a thorn in the side of Arsenal’s defence in recent times, including scoring the victor in the meeting between the two teams at the Emirates Stadium last season.
With Hazard and Costa the Arsenal back four and the midfield protecting them are going to have to be on the ball and that means that Coquelin, assuming he plays, will be a major figure in how the game goes.
In September of last season Costa was again the centre of attention, clashing with Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista, the latter of whom was sent off after confronting the forward.
Asking what was said in the exchange, Mourinho replied: “I told him, “Here you do that, you know I can’t react, but I will meet you one day in the street”.
Arsene Wenger says Arsenal will deal with Diego Costa by “being cold-blooded” against Chelsea. The rest is down to the referees to get the game and the rules respected. He looks since the start of the season to have cleaned up his act, that he behaves more focused on the game. I like him, as a quality striker.
“We talk about that because in the last two games, we’ve played against Chelsea with 10 men” he said. We have regrets we weren’t able to play 11 v 11.
The Gunners will be without Aaron Ramsey for the game after Wenger confirmed the Wales midfielder is still missing with a hamstring problem which is likely to keep him out of the next round of worldwide fixtures.
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Xhaka has scored stunning long-range goals in his last two appearances against Hull City and Nottingham Forest, but despite impressing in Tuesday’s 4-0 win in the EFL Cup, he was relegated back to the bench for Saturday evening’s fixture against Chelsea.
