Hazard and Costa passed fit for Arsenal clash

Guus Hiddink admits that Chelsea are not direct rivals with Arsenal this season as the struggling Premier League champions prepare to take on the league leaders at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Hazard had been battling a groin injury with the club taking it easy and careful during his recovery while Diego Costa is nursing his bruised shin that required a hospital visit last weekend.

Hiddink said at his press conference today that Hazard had trained fully this week and was fit to start at the Emirates.

“I am not sure whether he can play a full 90 minutes yet so we have to consider in the upcoming hours whether he will start or come on”.

After a hard start to the season which the saw Ivanovic struggle for form, like numerous Chelsea players in the early stages of the campaign, Hiddink feels the right-back is back to his best.

Costa, meanwhile, has enjoyed a resurgence under Hiddink, scoring five goals in as many matches under the Dutchman after netting just four times in 20 appearances in all competitions prior to the departure of Jose Mourinho last month.

There were fears the Spanish global may be set for a spell on the sidelines but despite the striker not being able to take part in training this week, Hiddink says Costa is still available for selection against the Gunners.

‘It depends on the game and the toughness and intensity of the game. Asked whether the Spaniard has been managed to train with the rest of his team-mates during the week, he said: “Not much but he was in yesterday and in today and he will be available as well”.

The FA later caught up with him, however, and hit him with a three-match ban for violent conduct for an elbow on Laurent Koscielny.

Hiddink said, however: “I haven’t seen the images”.

“He [Costa] is worth a lot for us”. He has done that but there are no guarantees because we are dealing with human beings not machines’.

Hiddink said: “He’s important, one of the main characters in this team”.

“He has become one of the key members of the first team and also of the squad”.