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| Jose Mourinho |
Before Jose Mourinho disappeared into the manager’s office at Stamford
Bridge on Saturday afternoon, there was one last chance to twist the knife into
Arsene Wenger.
Chelsea’s manager was in full flow, swiftly moving on from an inevitable
disagreement with Wenger over Diego Costa’s behaviour and turning his attention
to the quality of the Arsenal team.
‘I think Arsenal have the squad to be champions — and every season I feel
that,’ claimed Mourinho. It was another pointed dig at Wenger.
No-one in their heart of hearts really believes Arsenal are good enough to
win the Barclays Premier League title with this team but it suited Mourinho to
give Wenger another sharp jab in the ribs.
‘I don’t know why they can’t win it, but that’s my feeling — I like every
player,’ added Mourinho.
‘If one of their players is a free agent and Arsenal don’t want him there,
I would take every one. I like all of their players.’
Arsenal have not won the Premier League title since 2004,
when Wenger assembled a team of Invincibles capture the biggest prize in
English football. This was another painful defeat for Arsenal, another brutal
lesson after they succumbed to Costa’s shenanigans and allowed ill-discipline
to mask their usual inadequacies.
Gabriel lost out in a verbal exchange with Costa, all of it spoken in their
native Portuguese tongue before the Arsenal defender’s petulant donkey kicked
at the Chelsea striker towards the end of the first half.
That was nothing compared to the stupidity of captain Santi Cazorla,
leaving his team-mates to play out the remainder of this fiery London derby
with nine men after he was sent off 11 minutes from time.
By then Kurt Zouma had headed Chelsea in front and they added a second in
injury time when Eden Hazard’s strike deflected in off Calum Chambers.
Arsenal’s season has juddered to a halt, beaten in the Maksimir Stadium by
Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Wednesday and losing, as is customary,
to Chelsea.
This was the chance for Wenger’s side to build on the psychological blow that
was struck on August 2 when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s strike at Wembley secured
the Community Shield.
Instead the dopey dismissals on Saturday have given Arsenal an excuse
again, preferring to blame Costa, the referee Mike Dean, or a combination of
both for this defeat. There was more to it than that.
To match the champions Chelsea, on a bad run themselves in the league after
successive defeats against Crystal Palace and Everton, would have been a
powerful message. Instead, they are caught up in another cycle of excuses.
On Wednesday they travel to White Hart Lane for a Capital One Cup tie
against their north London rivals, a tie that has suddenly taken on a different
dimension.
‘We have played the last couple of games with 10 men in the second half and
I hope we can play 11 v 11, but it’s another derby so it’s not guaranteed,’
added Wenger.
Arsenal’s manager will take some calming down after Costa’s shameful
contribution, which included the demand for a yellow card when he tripped over
his own feet, to this clash.
‘They (the FA) have to do it for everyone,’ he added. ‘I would like them,
especially Mike Dean, to look at the whole action that happened and see if he
stands by the decision.
‘You can spit in my face and if it’s in a game then I will not respond —
but I do not guarantee that outside the game.’
In fact, Costa will find out on Monday if the FA will take retrospective
action after studying referee Mike Dean’s report for his part in the incident
that led to Gabriel’s dismissal.
Costa is likely to be on the bench for Wednesday’s Capital One Cup tie at
Walsall with Radamel Falcao starting while John Terry, dropped for Chelsea’s
last two games, will return to the team.
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