Diego Costa May Be the Pantomime Villain, but He's Just What Chelsea Need

STAMFORD BRIDGE, LONDON — Jose Mourinho got plenty right in Chelsea's 2-0 win over Arsenal on Sunday.

The decision to play Kurt Zouma over John Terry paid off with a clean sheet and a goal for the defender, as did the decision to play a higher line and attack the Gunners.

Chelsea needed to win this match, and the manager went out to do just that.

Mourinho was also right in his assertion that Diego Costa was the man of the match. The striker did everything required of him, and despite not scoring, it was a match-winning display from the Spain international.

Costa has come in for plenty of criticism on the back of his performance, which has been harsh. It needs to stop.

Costa can count himself lucky to have not been sent off after his skirmishes with Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista, yet the reaction to his part in the latter's dismissal has been blown out of all proportion.

The Premier League likes a pantomime villain, and if we ever doubted it was Costa, then the Arsenal game has proved he is just that.

Every week we hear defenders praised for their attempts to shackle Costa by deliberately antagonising him, tempting him to kick out and get sent off.

That's seen as good, clever defending. The moment Costa reverses the roles, however, he is vilified. It's not seen as clever but petulance from him.

He had already put up with plenty before the proverbial hit the fan on the stroke of half-time at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. There was the constant tugging of the shirt and the grappling with him off the ball to prevent his movement.

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Indeed, the whole Gabriel incident was sparked by Koscielny doing all of the above as Chelsea attacked the Arsenal goal.

Costa was being upended by Koscielny, having to wrest himself free from the Frenchman's grip before being dumped to the ground. As he got to his feet, he was faced with the Arsenal man standing tall over him, seemingly trying to intimidate him.

Allowing a trailing hand to hit Koscielny in the face wasn't a wise move from Costa, nor was his subsequent chest charge that put the Frenchman on the floor.

Had Mike Dean refereed this game more strongly, Arsenal would have got the reward they wanted for their efforts. But then again, if Dean had acted stronger from the first whistle, the Arsenal defenders wouldn't have got away with their shenanigans up to that point.

Quite why Gabriel felt the need to get involved the way he did, only he can tell, but then Costa saw the signs and did a number on him.

We were expecting it to be the other way around ahead of kick-off. The Brazilian was supposed to bring the worst out of the Chelsea frontman. Yet whatever was said in their exchange, Costa came out on top, with Gabriel eventually seeing red for kicking out at him.

Does it make Costa a saint? No, and we know he's far from one. Does it make him clever? Sure, especially given Arsenal attempted the same with him all afternoon and failed.

The point is, if defenders can deploy such tactics with Costa, the Chelsea striker is more than entitled to do it back. And the loser of those particular battles can hardly complain, especially Arsene Wenger.

Even in the post-match press conference, Wenger was trying his best to partake in some mind games to tarnish Costa's reputation and plant a seed of doubt in the minds of referees.

"He can do what he wants and he stays on," said the Arsenal boss, implying Costa gets preferential treatment from referees. "It's unacceptable, his behaviour, what he does to Koscielny."

Wenger must have a short memory given Costa was on the receiving end of retrospective three-match ban in January after an apparent stamp on Emre Can.

Given the evidence on that occasion—Can was behind Costa, who had his eyes on the ball when he made contact with the Liverpool player's leg—there was a strong argument to suggest Costa's reputation preceded him. He certainly didn't get away with anything.

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It wasn't black and white, yet the ban was handed out.

On Saturday, had the Arsenal players not targeted Costa, there's every chance the game would have passed without incident.

And had it not, Costa would have been to blame.

But that game isn't in the interest of the opposing defenders. They want to get at Costa, to rile him and test that famous temper, which Arsenal did.

That it backfired doesn't give Wenger and his players licence to complain.

"I don't understand Mike Dean's decision at all," Wenger continued. Perhaps he was referring to the fact his own players had got away with everything up to that point.

What we must take from the whole saga is that Costa was far from innocent in it all, but equally, he wasn't the villain of the peace, either.

He simply acted with more intelligence to stay on the pitch, whereas Gabriel was naive.

It's no wonder Mourinho was keen to sing his praises.

"It was a very good performance. We deserved the victory. I am happy with both the performance and the points," said the Chelsea boss.

"[...] If you want to talk about Diego Costa with me it's to say that he played like he has to play. And that's why you have full stadiums, with television stations playing million and millions, because the game has to be played like that.

"[Costa was] man of the match. Of course it was not [a red card for Costa]. The referee was there and was the same referee who made every decision of the game."

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Before this encounter with Arsenal, there had been questions surrounding Chelsea. The character seemed to have gone from the team, and they weren't fighting collectively, contributing to their poor start this season.

Suddenly, Costa has helped pull them from the mire; they've rediscovered that nasty touch, and the squad seems to be back together as one again.

Chelsea have needed some inspiration, and they've got it from the desire their striker has shown. In terms of their title challenge, there's plenty more to do to get that back on track, but Arsenal was the start.

Now they need to carry over that desire and aggression to claw back Manchester City's strong lead at the top.

When Costa is in this sort of mood, it suggests Chelsea can turn things around. The rest of the Premier League may not like him, but Costa is a winner.

Chelsea beat Arsenal because of him. Wenger will do well to remember that.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes