Guus Hiddink’s second spell as interim steward has barely extended beyond a week and, already, he is nursing a headache induced by Diego Costa.
Chelsea benefited from the Spain forward at his best on Saturday, all the rampaging power and presence that had originally marked him out as exceptional restored to his game. And yet one needless late lunge, and the resultant fifth yellow card of term, has denied the champions their principal striker at Manchester United on Monday.
The Dutchman described it as “a setback”. Privately, he must be exasperated. Such is life with Costa, a player whose aggressive style of play forever carries risk of sanction. This club had been waiting for months to glimpse the 27-year-old who had run riot at the start of last term and, having finally resurfaced, he has been lost again just when he was needed most.
José Mourinho might have warned his stand-in successor to prepare a back-up plan, with Hiddink now left contemplating his options. There is too much doubt surrounding Radamel Falcao’s fitness to send him out against the club where he spent last season on loan, the Colombian’s year-long arrangement with Chelsea having proved, if anything, even less productive than his spell at Old Trafford. Efforts will surely be made to cancel that deal with Monaco next month.
Eden Hazard, who was preferred up front when Costa was dropped four weeks ago, is only just back from a hip injury and remains without a club goal since May. His eager cameo against Watford did at least win a late penalty, conceded by Valon Behrami’s wild challenge, only for Oscar to slip and balloon the spot-kick over the bar. But Hazard has trained only three times under the interim and departed complaining of discomfort in his leg yet again. “He is not top fit yet, but very fresh in his mind,” said Hiddink. “He’ll need training and, eventually, games.”
That may suggest Loïc Rémy, a player rarely trusted by Mourinho, is most likely to deputise if he has recovered from his own slight knock. His only Premier League start of the season came at Newcastle in late September. The clean slate of which the new manager has regularly spoken would particularly apply to his under-used Frenchman.
Hiddink suggested he had joined the club “in their desperate period”, but at least they travel north with the pressure thrust, for once, on their opponents. United may be 10 points better off than the champions but their recent form is abject, the scrutiny all on the hosts and their beleaguered manager, Louis van Gaal.
Chelsea, encouraged by their show of character to recover a deficit against Watford, will consider this an appropriately grand stage upon which to demonstrate their own campaign is on the up. “If the team had not reacted I would have said: ‘Phew, there’s a lot to do on the mental part of the game,’” said Hiddink, who will also be without Cesc Fàbregas for Monday’s match after the Spaniard did not travel with the rest of the squad to Manchester due to a fever. “But they did respond to the penalty and a deflected goal, and that’s why we can be confident. So let’s make Monday something nice for history.”
Watford are doing that almost on a weekly basis. This was another hugely impressive display, Quique Sánchez Flores’s wonderfully drilled side recovering from Costa’s initial reward to force themselves ahead through Troy Deeney’s penalty and Odion Ighalo’s 13th league goal of the season.
Costa restored parity before the end but, even with the penalty conceded late on, a fifth game without defeat was the least the visitors merited. They were energetic, awkward and a regular threat. If they beat Tottenham Hotspur on Monday they will be level on points with Mauricio Pochettino’s side at the end of a year of staggering progress.
That fixture has particular relevance to Étienne Capoue, outstanding alongside Ben Watson at the heart of Watford’s midfield these days but, in 2013, one of the far from magnificent seven recruited by Tottenham at huge expense in anticipation of Gareth Bale’s world-record sale to Real Madrid. A paltry 19 Premier League starts in two years tells the story of Capoue’s Spurs career.
“I didn’t play enough to show my quality at Spurs so that’s why I came here and started at zero with a chance to enjoy and show what I can do on the pitch for Watford,” said the Frenchman. “It is always the choice of the coach, and I respect I wasn’t good enough for him. No problem.
“I had a few options to play in the Premier League but I chose Watford because it was a very big project. I knew the president through my agent, and Gino Pozzo is very clever with big plans in his head. He wants to turn Watford into a top club in a few years’ time. We can do it. We have shown how good we are. We are seventh and, even if we go down a few places before the end of the season, we have shown what we can do with a small club.”
There is a long-term vision at Vicarage Road, where Flores is getting the best from players who might have been undervalued elsewhere and have a point to prove. There are examples dotted throughout a Watford team who are seventh on merit.
Hiddink, a short-term appointment with immediate problems, may now have to do the same with Rémy in the fixture to come.
Man of the match Étienne Capoue (Watford)
