Chelsea’s European game in Israel was on Tuesday, but Tottenham appeared to be feeling the effects of a longer trip to Azerbaijan to play in the Europa League on Thursday and provided little goal threat.
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Tony Cascarino says Jose Mourinho was right to drop Diego Costa against Tottenham – but has backed him to return and score for Chelsea on Saturday Night Football.
“For me his behaviour was normal”.
However, that didn’t stop the Portuguese dropping Costa to the bench at White Hart Lane, with Mourinho beforehand suggesting that the player needed a breather.
“If he wants to hurt me, it’s not with a bib”.
He said: ‘This is what he’s good at, when he’s fighting – I won’t say at his best, but it’s what he’s good at.
On Sunday, the 24-year-old started at the tip of the Chelsea attack away to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, but neither team could find the back of the net in the goalless draw. “I don’t think his form warranted him playing”. Everyone has been on the bench – the captain [John] Terry, [Branislav] Ivanovic, [Gary] Cahill, [Cesc] Fabregas, Pedro and player of the season [Eden] Hazard. I am more than happy with the performance.
Costa, who scored 20 goals in his first season with Chelsea, has found the back of the net just three times in 11 league appearances this campaign and has admitted he was overweight when he returned to pre-season training.
“It was Eden’s best game of the season, ‘ declared Mourinho”.
Speaking about Costa, Mourinho further added: “Physically he is fine”. He’s always a positive guy in the team. I was not expecting to have a player on the bench jumping and singing. According to reports, there are problems in the Chelsea locker room and as we have all seen this season, no one is happy with the way the defending EPL champions have started the term.
“I’m convinced that, by the end of December, we’ll be in a different position to now and we’ll have shortened the difference to the top teams”.
“Overall we are frustrated”, Wenger said.
FC’s Shaka Hislop doesn’t think Chelsea played all that well against Tottenham, even though Spurs are a strong side.
The point left the reigning champions languishing in the bottom half of the table, while Spurs now unbeaten in 13 league games were left frustrated after failing to take a chance to put pressure on the top four.
“The message to all my players, not just Diego, is that when we play as a team, the team is much better”, he said.
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“This weekend we will be enemies because we both want to win the game”.
