It’s pretty clear that Diego Costa was lucky to stay on the pitch on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Dean’s refereeing performance, which saw Arsenal receive two red cards and Chelsea none, was simply farcical as the Gunners lost at Stamford Bridge.
Diego Costa’s first two offences came early on as he dived, only to demand that Francis Coquelin was booked immediately after.
Two minutes on the clock, he had already conned Mike Dean and asked for a card to be shown to an opponent – which should be another booking for the striker.
Next up, leading to the melee that saw Gabriel red carded, the Chelsea striker stuck his hand and his arm in Lauren Koscielny’s face. Both actually worthy of a red card according to the laws of the game, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say just two more bookings should have come his way.
Koscielny’le ikili mücadeleye giren Diego Costa https://t.co/4cUFc41jnu
— Charles Monroe (@CharlesMonroe33) September 19, 2015
Moments later, apparently offended that Koscielny hadn’t let such petulant tactics faze him, Costa decided to launch his chest into the French defender’s.
Gabriel stepped in and had his neck scratched, Diego Costa was FINALLY booked.
This is how Gabriel got the scratch marks on his neck if you think they were there before the game started. pic.twitter.com/ongy08tuRG
— UberArsenal™ (@UberAFC) September 19, 2015
Of course, this wasn’t the end of it all. The Chelsea man (along with the help of the defender) got Gabriel sent off and, with Arsenal down to 10 men, the game was all but over.
Nonetheless, there were 45 minutes to be played and Costa was allowed one more stupid act before he was subbed off with around 10 minutes to play.
Clearing the ball, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was needlessly shoved by Costa before the striker swung a leg at him, not dissimilar to the offence Gabriel saw himself sent off for.
There are, generally, very few excuses to lose a football match but sometimes it’s hard not to feel hard done by. Arsenal were very much in this game with 11 men and, while we may have even deserved to lose Gabriel, the events were unjust.
Simply put, it’s astounding that a Premier League referee and his assistants can have such an incompetent display that Diego Costa can stay on the pitch after committing so many offences. It’s a disgrace.