Yet again, Diego Costa is the man with a difference. His transformation under Hiddink is scary, amazing and very suspect. Nevertheless, he's pretty much one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premiership now. A month ago he was a clueless blade of grass meandering on the wing, but now, he's the bulldog who is dragging his team onwards and upwards.
Against Arsenal, it was a defining moment that turned the game in Chelsea's favour. Costa knew that Mertesacker was the defender to target. His lack of speed and two year reaction time to things meant he would eventually make a mistake. So it was when that ball over the top came, and once Costa got the perfect first-touch that took him away from Mertesacker, that was the done deal. Either he'd be one-on-one with Cech or Per would have to make an almost impossible tackle. The latter happened and Chelsea had a less stressful evening playing with an extra man.
But you need that G and it was Costa who was decisive again. A cross coming in from Big Booty, his striker's instinct put him in the right place at the right time to put his team ahead. It was yet another game in which he's reminded people that there needs to be another name added to that list of top strikers. But to be perfectly fair, how he'd been performing under Mourinho this season, I had given up on him.
For most of this season, he played more like how he looked like. A rough, drug-dealing dangerous dude who lies about his age. Oh, and he'd also fall over and persist in running nowhere only to get lose the ball and complain. Under Hiddink, he stays on his feet more, plays more centrally, fights for every ball and is a serious problem for defenders in the way in which he constantly applies pressure.
Costa has given more effort in the few games that Hiddink has been in charge than in every millisecond he was playing under Mourinho this season. That is why I am just shocked that it's the same player. Unlike the other underperformers who have either had a very small improvement or none at all, Costa is a man reborn and he's now Chelsea's most valuable player. To further prove this, the one game with Hiddink in charge where Costa was suspended was against United, and that is the worst they have looked yet with the Dutchman running things.
Top four is a big stretch. Chelsea fans (the non-racist ones, the others can rot in a pit) should not get their hopes up. But if, by some craziness, they are in a position to actually squeeze into the fourth spot, then it will have to be through Costa.
Without him in the team, then they have a 0% chance.
Comment below using your Facebook or Twitter Account to Log Into Disqus.
HH
