Diego Costa, Chelsea’s chief architect of mischief, feeds on opposition hate

Steve Luckings writes in goading Arsenal into shooting themselves in the foot once more on Sunday, Chelsea's Diego Costa cast himself as the chief architect of mischief yet again.

An Arsenal fan yells at Chelsea's Diego Costa during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea on Sunday at the Emirates Stadium. John Sibley / Action Images / Reuters / January 24, 2016

If Diego Costa ever finds himself in need of a new profession then perhaps a career in Britain’s pantomime industry awaits when he finally hangs up his boots.

No one plays the villain better, do they? In two matches against Arsenal this season the Chelsea striker has been at the centre of every major flashpoint, whether it be scoring the winner, as he did at Emirates Stadium on Sunday, or flashpoints that resulted in first Gabriel Paulista being sent off in the Stamford Bridge leg and then Per Mertesacker seeing red at the weekend.

Read more: Greg Lea on how an occasion for Arsenal to stamp their authority turned missed opportunity

While September’s bad-tempered match at Stamford Bridge showed the Spaniard at his petulant worst – twice raking his hands across Laurent Koscielney’s face, chest bumping the Frenchman to the ground, reacting like he had been hit by sniper fire from Gabriel’s equally petulant kick – Sunday’s game showed him at his predatory best.

While there is some debate as to whether Mertesacker’s desperate lunge at Costa carried enough venom to send the latter tumbling like a boulder down Mount Kilimanjaro, there can be no debate that the referee, Mark Clattenburg, got the decision correct to send off the Arsenal defender.

The World Cup winner brings many qualities to the Arsenal defence: leadership, an almost-unrivalled aerial ability, and an attacking threat from set pieces. However, get the gangly German on the turn and Nelson’s Column has more mobility.

The game turned in Chelsea’s favour when Cesc Fabregas played a perfectly weighted pass in behind Mertesacker for Costa to run on to and, as all strikers are taught from the time they are embryos, he pushed the ball in front of the centre-back leaving his marker with two options: first, let Costa go through on goal and hope his goalkeeper can bail him out. Second, lunge fall stretch in the hope you get enough purchase on the ball to take it out of Costa’s stride.

Mertesacker chose the second, failing spectacularly. He even looked across the line for an offside flag that was never coming as he jumped into his doomed attempt. And he does not even go with the correct leg, opting for his left, going across Costa, to his left, instead of with his right leg, which would have at least stood a better chance of blocking any forward movement of the ball. Television replays seemed to show Costa standing on Mertesacker’s outstretched foot, causing his fall, but the defender made the referee’s decision for him by even trying to attempt it.

Even if Mertesacker had let Costa through the Chelsea forward still had the formidable presence of Petr Cech in goal to negotiate before a goal was scored. Even if he had managed that, Arsenal still would have had more than an hour to score an equaliser with the sides even at 11 v 11.

Costa, once again cast in the role of pantomime villain, lapped up the abuse from the stands; he seemed to relish it, the negative vibes feeding him positive energy.

Four minutes later he stole in at the near post with precision timing to connect with Branislav Ivanovic’s cross. Cue slightly over-the-top celebrations in front of the Arsenal fans, pointing to the name on his back just in case they were in any doubt as to who had scored.

Those two incidents – the sending off and the goal – were the game’s two most decisive moments. Costa, the man opposition fans love to hate, was the architect of both.

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