Chelsea FC will be without striker Diego Costa for their meeting against Manchester United, leaving Guus Hiddink with an unnecessary problem.
Diego Costa bagged a brace on Saturday afternoon as Chelsea earned a draw against Watford. After taking the lead in the first half, the Blues were forced to come back to level the contest at two apiece. Oscar then slipped when taking a penalty, sending the club’s opportunity to steal the victory flying over the crossbar.
While Costa’s performance indicated a welcome return to form, the forward insisted on tainting the display by putting in an unnecessary tackle in the middle of the park as the clock wound down. The late challenge resulted in a yellow card for the Spanish international, his fifth caution on the season. Guus Hiddink consequently has to deal with his unavailability for Monday’s Manchester United fixture.
"He is now out with a fifth booking so we have to think how to solve that problem."
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It was an infuriating decision from the striker, especially given that he seemed to have finally found his shooting boots. The two goals took his Premier League tally to five in this campaign, helping to leave some awful performances in the past. However, the yellow card means that Chelsea will be without an in-form goalscorer at Old Trafford.
With Manchester United on the ropes after four consecutive losses, they are there for the taking. Chelsea desperately need the three points on Monday but will now seek the victory with a frontman lacking in game time.
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Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao are Hiddink’s two options to step in for Costa and it will be interesting to see which one he selects. The Colombian has been documenting his return to training under the new Blues boss with optimism as it appears that Hiddink is eager to utilise him.
However, he was left out of Saturday’s matchday squad with Loic Remy taking up his familiar spot on the bench. The Frenchman hit the back of the net a couple of weeks ago against Leicester City and was criminally underused by Jose Mourinho through the first part of the campaign. Fortunately, like Falcao, Remy will be eager to prove his worth under the new regime and show Hiddink that he has a reliable and viable second-striker option should Costa fall on hard times again.
Meanwhile, despite being frustrated with his striker’s moment of idiocy, Hiddink did give Costa credit for his reaction to being jeered last weekend.
"His reaction was good, when he was booed he had a very good reaction as a professional…He focused himself on what he is good at and not wasting extra energy where he shouldn’t waste it."
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With a need to rally together as a club once more, Blues fans will echo the manager’s sentiments, even if they cannot particularly do so tomorrow afternoon.
All quotes taken from the Independent.