Reuters
Diego Costa turned the villain (again), as Arsenal had Gabriel and Santi Cazorla sent off in an ill-tempered encounter, which Chelsea won 2-0. West Ham survived a second-half blitzkrieg against the unbeaten Manchester City, as the Hammers recorded their 3rd straight away win in the Premier League.
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After a dismal start to their title defence, Chelsea recorded only their second win of the season but the match was engulfed in controversy just before half-time and there was one man at the centre of all the trouble – Diego Costa. Costa, ‘started it’ by shoving and elbowing Laurent Koscielny thrice in the face before he sent the French defender tumbling to the ground. Gabriel, signed in January from Villareal, proceeded to confront the Spaniard, as the two held each other by their necks. As both were shown yellow cards, Gabriel fell for Costa’s tactics, when he kicked the striker a minute later, and was subsequently shown a red card by referee Mike Dean.
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The momentum swerved in Chelsea’s direction and Jose Mourinho’s men capitalized on their extra man, when the unmarled Kurt Zouma, who started in place of John Terry, headed in Fabregas’ free-kick at the back-post. It didn’t get any better for Arsenal in the second-half, as captain Santi Cazorla was given marching orders for a second bookable offence, leaving the Gunners two men down at Stamford Bridge. In the dying moments of the match, Eden Hazard’s shot took a massive deflection of Calum Chambers, leaving former Chelsea ‘keeper Petr Cech completely wrong-footed, as the Blues squished all hopes for an extravagant comeback. Arsene Wenger was exceptionally peeved at the end of the game, especially at Costa and later said – “In every game he (Costa) has aggravation and he gets away with it because of the weakness of the referee. We knew before the game he is only looking at that.” “Gabriel should not have responded at all but the two sending offs for us and Costa staying on the pitch is a shame.”
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Mourinho, for obvious reasons, didn’t share the same views as his counterpart, as he quoted – “I don’t have a view on the sending off. Man of the match for sure was Diego Costa. He brought everything to the game.” There was definitely no love lost between Wenger and Mourinho, as the two shared an icy and rather pointless handshake before the whistle.
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Slaven Bilic was be extremely proud and pleased with his side’s away form, as the Hammers enhanced their reputation as giant-killers, following a clinical performance against table toppers Manchester City. Victor Moses rifled in his first West Ham goal with a low shot from 20-yard, as City conceded their first goal of the campaign. Diafra Sakho doubled the lead after a scramble in the box following a corner routine. New signing Kevin De Bruyne reduced the deficit with a well-taken shot outside the box past Adrian in first-half stoppage time. City completely dominated proceedings in the second-half but the West Ham defenders somehow held on to prevent the home side from scoring. West Ham ‘keeper Adrian made a few brilliant saves to deny the likes of Aguero and Yaya Toure, as Slaven Bilic’s men have taken 9 out of a possible 9 points on their trips away from Upton Park.
Other Premier League results:
Aston Villa 0-1 West Brom
Bournemouth 2-0 Sunderland
Newcastle 1-2 Watford
Stoke 2-2 Leicester
Swansea 0-0 Everton
