Chelsea midfielder Matic hoping for strong finish to season

Arsenal missed their chance to go back to the top of the Premier League after being forced to play with 10 men for much of the 1-0 home defeat by London rivals Chelsea on Sunday.

Arsenal’s German defender Per Mertesacker was sent off after 18 minutes for denying a goalscoring opportunity to Diego Costa, who scored the only goal five minutes later from a cross by Branislav Ivanovic.

Wenger attempted to clarify his comment on Costa, who was forced off with a knee injury, by adding: “I said Costa got two of our players sent off in the last two games against Chelsea”.

And Matic told the club’s official website: “This was the real Chelsea, and I believe that we can show again in the future that we deserve to play for this club”.

Asked about the incident later in his post-match press conference, Wenger said: “I said Costa got two of our players sent off in the last two games against Chelsea”. Did he touch him or not? But the fact is the fact. “A fact is a fact, I do not accuse him of anything”. It’s just what happened.

Even after going 1-0 up against 10 men, the visiting blues didn’t stop and relentlessly tried to push a second to kill the game, which was, “The only thing we can criticize” according to Hiddink, that his team couldn’t kill the game with a second goal. “We take it game by game and when it comes to May we will see where we are”.

But Hiddink said: “There’s no doubt”.

“That was a major decision at the start of the game and gave the advantage to Chelsea”, Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech said.

Wenger also commented on Costa’s role in the red card, but said that he did not know if there was contact or not in the challenge.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have not lost in the Premier League since manager Guus Hiddink took over following the sacking of Jose Mourinho. “But if the captain, John Terry, says we can do it, then we follow the captain!”

Number of red cards Arsenal have been shown against Chelsea – more than against any other side.

But Hiddink was grateful Costa focused on football and delivered. It’s a gap. And if you see the results in the Premier League, and how competitive all teams are whether you are down or high in the ranking – look at Norwich v Liverpool yesterday, a attractive game.

“All teams can beat all teams”.