Chelsea have lost a wind-up merchant in their side… instead they are shooting themselves in the foot
Blues have already had three red cards this season but David Luiz's straight red card was reckless and dangerous
IT MAY seem strange to say after five red cards in the last eight games but Chelsea are losing their knack of winding up rivals.
Certainly, Arsenal’s players and manager Arsene Wenger looked pretty irate at David Luiz’s reckless lunge on Sead Kolasinac.
The Brazilian defender launched his 6ft 3in frame into the air and zeroed in on Kolasinac’s lower shin, right in front of the dugouts.
It was the Blues’ third match against the Gunners since their FA Cup final defeat in May — and the third time Chelsea have had a player sent off.
Two defeats and a lucky draw for manager Antonio Conte in that time.
And while winning matches is not a problem overall for Chelsea, channelling the required aggression into an overwhelming desire for victory is becoming an issue.
For all Diego Costa’s faults, the Spanish striker with the gunslinger scowl and hair-trigger temperament was only ever sent off once for Chelsea.
And that was for two yellow cards at Everton.
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He was never charged for the alleged bite at Gareth Barry’s jugular vein which followed. And that is the point.
Costa pushes, pulls, tangles and whinges — and most of the time he manages to get away with it.
Even when he did get done for raising his hands against Gunners defender Laurent Koscielny in 2015, it was retrospectively.
And do not forget, Costa had played a part in getting Arsenal defender Gabriel sent off in that game as Chelsea won 2-0.
Opposing fans call that sly or slippery but his own supporters say it’s clever. It’s also hugely successful.
Getting under the skin of the bloke marking you is a key part of any battle on the football field. Sledging, niggling, reacting — it’s as much part of the game as the kick-off. It may explain why Costa managed to score against Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United in the past two seasons.
Chelsea have always had a wind-up merchant. The sort of player who gets in people’s faces and picks fights.
Before Costa, it was John Terry. Go back further and it was Dennis Wise, Jody Morris.
Even Didier Drogba knew how to make opponents flip.
Now there’s a genuine danger Chelsea are losing that talent for the dark arts, which could cost them in key matches like this.
Chelsea are getting stuck in, as the charge sheet at the FA shows.
But all they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot by doing so. Treading that line between deliberate gamesmanship and rampant ill discipline is a thin one.
Gary Cahill went in high on Burnley’s Steven Defour on the opening day of the season and was sent off.
Cesc Fabregas walked in the same match by collecting a needless red for dissent towards the ref — and it ended with the worst possible start to the defence of the title in a 3-2 defeat.
Victor Moses sent off for diving in the FA Cup final. Pedro given a red for raking his boot down Mohamed Elneny’s Achilles tendon. All silly and self-destructive.
Costa’s replacement, Alvaro Morata, is a fine goalscorer and has three goals to his credit already.
But he was so easily bullied by the Arsenal defence yesterday.
Shkodran Mustafi came close to leaving Arsenal on transfer-deadline day and fancied a move to Inter Milan.
Convincing him to stay put was perhaps an even wiser decision than refusing Alexis Sanchez his wish to join Manchester City in the summer window.
German defender Mustafi had Morata in his pocket from first minute to last.
That can happen in a clash between two top-class players in the Premier League.
But what is most worrying is the way Morata accepted it with such good grace.
And the way Luiz lost control of his temper and took it out on Kolasinac just when his team needed him most.
