Fourth official Jon Moss had to step into a confrontation between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho Chelsea even survived the early loss of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who was taken off before half-time and replaced by Petr Cech after taking a bang on the head in a collision with Sanchez, with the Belgian taken to hospital as a precaution. Courtoiss problems started when he raced out to beat Sanchez to a through ball and there was an accidental clash between the pair - the young goalkeeper recovered after being flat out but was unable to complete the half, the Chelsea medical team eventually signalling to Mourinho that he need to be replaced. If the action on the pitch took time to get going, there was no time-wasting between Mourinho and Wenger as their obvious personal animosity quickly boiled over. Wenger took exception to Mourinho giving his view on Cahills tackle on Sanchez, marching menacingly into the Chelsea technical area before giving his counterpart a very clear two-handed shove in the chest. Mourinho, not surprisingly, was unimpressed and it took the intervention of fourth official Jon Moss to at least restore a small measure of calm between the pair. Arsenal had acquitted themselves well without putting Chelsea under serious pressure, but were unlocked by the pace and trickery of Hazard to go behind after 27 minutes. Koscielny had no other answer to the Belgians run into the area than to stick his leg out and bring him down, with Hazard recovering his poise to score from the spot. Chelsea, while not being at their best, had restricted Arsenal to the extent that the visiting attacking threat was non-existent, but the Gunners had a genuine grievance when Fabregas stopped Jack Wilsheres shot from the edge of the area with raised arms just after the hour, only for referee Martin Atkinson to remain unmoved. And while Chelsea were resolute in defence, there remained the ever-present threat of Costa. He had barely been in the game but pounced to put the match out of Arsenals reach with 12 minutes left. Fabregas, as he has been so often this season since joining Chelsea from Barcelona in the summer, was the creator, as a long pass sent Costa beyond Arsenals defence to lift a finish over Wojciech Szczesny.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 18:58:00 +0000
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