Costa’s goading caused Gabriel to react with a sly kick, which left referee Mike Dean no option but to brandish a red card, weakening Arsenal’s defence. PHOTO: REUTERS
Gabriel was sent off late in the first half after a tussle with the provocative Diego Costa and Zouma, playing in place of Chelsea captain John Terry, put the hosts ahead in the 53rd minute.
Cazorla was shown a second yellow card for sliding in on Cesc Fabregas and Hazard made the game safe a minute from time with a shot that beat former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech via a sizeable deflection off Calum Chambers.
It was for Chelsea a first home league win of the campaign and, arriving on the back of Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League, fired hope that Jose Mourinho’s side may yet salvage something despite making their worst start to a season in 29 years.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had overcome Mourinho for the first time in last month’s Community Shield, but here found himself in the familiar position of having been eclipsed by his Portuguese nemesis.
His side have not beaten Chelsea in the league since October 2011 and following the mid-week defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in which Olivier Giroud was sent off, this was another partly self-inflicted setback.
Both Arsenal and Chelsea started off well but the talk of the match was when Costa, characteristically, lashed out at Laurent Koscielny inside the Arsenal box and then clashing with Gabriel, which saw both players booked.
But Costa continued to goad Gabriel as the players walked down the pitch and when the centre-back reacted with a sly kick, referee Mike Dean brandished the red card.
Wenger, meanwhile, accused referee Mike Dean of “weakness” and felt that Costa should have been sent off for his role as instigator.
“I would not like to be Mike Dean tonight,” said Wenger. “Costa twice should be sent off. He hits him [Koscielny] in the face on purpose. In every game he has aggravation and he gets away with it.”
Mourinho refused to be drawn on Gabriel’s dismissal, but praised Costa for his performance.
“I don’t have a view on the sending off,” said the Portuguese. “Man of the match for sure was Diego Costa. He brought everything to the game.”
Jordan Henderson out for two months
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers received another blow after captain Jordan Henderson, who recently returned after undergoing a specialist procedure in an attempt to cure an ongoing heel problem, faces up to eight weeks on the sidelines after suffering a broken foot in training.
The Reds host Norwich City on Anfield on Sunday following successive league defeats against West Ham and Manchester United and there is a huge amount of pressure on the Northern Irishman caused by the timidity of his team’s performances in both matches.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2015.
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