BPL: Chelsea beat nine-man Arsenal 2-0, leaves nine-man Arsenal seeing red after vital Premier League win

It has taken some time but, finally, there is the sense that the old Chelsea are back: winning matches, driving Arsène Wenger close to the point of spontaneous combustion and with Diego Costa showing all his various faces, good and bad, attractive and appalling. Costa does not just leave a mark on football matches when he behaves in this manner; he leaves a stain. It was another example of his hard-faced villainy and he will have delighted at seeing Arsenal fall into the trap and never climb back out.
Wenger expressed amazement afterwards about Costa’s ability to “get away with it every week” and it was undoubtedly naive on Gabriel’s part to become so riled he eventually flicked out a boot to provoke the red card that turned the game against Arsenal at the end of the first half. Gabriel spent so long trying to pursue the argument, eventually ushered away by a security guard in a fluorescent orange jacket, it could conceivably lead to a disciplinary charge for Arsenal. Yet the more serious repercussions came in the form of the goal from Kurt Zouma that gave Chelsea their lead and, from that point, everything quickly unravelled for Wenger’s team.
Arsenal were down to nine men when Eden Hazard’s deflected shot sealed the victory in stoppage time and there was certainly no debate about the validity of the two yellow cards for Santi Cazorla – one on Pedro just after the half-hour and another for clattering Cesc Fàbregas after 79 minutes – that meant the away side finished in disarray. With 10 men, Arsenal had barely threatened to find a way back into the match. With nine, their chances were somewhere between minimal and nonexistent.
Hazard’s late effort took a lucky ricochet off Calum Chambers and this felt like the day Chelsea shook their heads clear after their worst start to a top-division season since 1986. Mourinho’s decision to leave out Chelsea’s captain, John Terry, in favour of Zouma was justified by the younger man’s display. The champions kept their first clean sheet of the league season and, presumably, they will like to think they can still clamber back into the reckoning for another title. It is just a pity, perhaps, that the origins of this victory were so unsatisfactory and, by now, we should know enough about Costa to suspect he will reflect on that unpleasant little exchange with Gabriel as accomplished centre-forward play.
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Costa spends so long trying to pick fights and disturb the opposition there was always going to be someone who took the bait. More fool Gabriel that he was the one. Yet there was not a great deal to admire about Costa’s behaviour and, unless Mourinho can tell us otherwise, there seems to be absolutely no desire within the club for him to change.
It was a squalid incident laced with cunning and Gabriel, as Wenger admitted, was daft in the extreme to be drawn in. Costa’s initial intention was to get under the skin of Laurent Koscielny, swiping him across the face with the accidental-on-purpose style that forms part of a well-rehearsed routine. Koscielny swung him to the ground and, from that point onwards, it was an exercise in calculated skulduggery. Costa chest-bumped Koscielny with enough force to put the defender on his backside and, though Gabriel’s initial role was to get between the two and act as peacemaker, it quickly descended into a separate argument.
Both players were shown a yellow card but continued chuntering at one another all the way back to the centre circle until Gabriel, with his back to his opponent, flicked out his leg in a way to signal his irritation rather than actually hurt Costa. Gabriel was on his feet but the way he brought back his boot was reminiscent of David Beckham’s sending off against Diego Simeone in the 1998 World cup.It was a straight red card and Costa’s plan had worked.
Wenger decided to remove Francis Coquelin at half-time because the player was suffering a knee injury. Arsenal were suddenly without their one naturally defensive midfielder as well as being a man down. Calum Chambers replaced Coquelin and went into Gabriel’s position in defence but it was probably inevitable that the reorganisation would leave Arsenal vulnerable.
Eight minutes into the second half, Chelsea had a free-kick 30 yards from goal. Fàbregas, who showed glimpses of his old self, clipped the ball into the penalty area, Zouma lost Nacho Monreal at the far post and Petr Cech, on his return to Stamford Bridge, could not keep out the downward header.
Arsenal could be forgiven for linking everything back to the red card but it is also true that Wenger’s men had lost their momentum after an encouraging start during which Alexis Sánchez was a difficult opponent for Branislav Ivanovic and Theo Walcott’s speed and directness posed problems. Arsenal began like a team that quickly wanted to explore whether Chelsea’s confidence might be a little brittle. The passing was crisp and the movement was good but they lacked real presence in attack and, though Chelsea took a while to get going, the home side had the greater threat in attack.
Costa created all sorts of legitimate problems – “man of the match” Mourinho announced – and Hazard put in an improved performance, even if he was still somewhere short of last season’s exhilarating standards. His shot flew in off Chambers and Wenger, having reluctantly shaken Mourinho’s hand at the start, was straight down the tunnel at the end.