The match between these two London sides was finely in the balance on Saturday lunchtime, with Chelsea perhaps shading the opening half whilst Arsenal created the best chance when a Mesut Ozil pass found Aaron Ramsey free in the Chelsea box.

The Welshman decided against shooting with his first touch, instead controlling the ball before cutting back, which enabled Cesar Azpilicueta to nick the ball away.

A game of small margins, therefore, but a game that would ultimately be decided by what happened after that spurned Ramsey chance. Chelsea ended up counter-attacking, rushing into Arsenal’s half of the pitch. Whilst the ball was wide in Eden Hazard’s possesion, Diego Costa, Chelsea’s Brazilian-born Spanish striker flung a palm and a forearm towards Laurent Koscielny’s face, which the Frenchman absorbed without blinking. Eventually, summer signing Pedro would end up testing Petr Cech with a strike from outside the box but the ball returned to Hazard’s Belgian feet. Last season’s Player of the Year then passed the ball to Azpilicueta, who curled a cross from the inside left channel into the area.

Turning point

As the slightly over-hit ball went into the box, Koscielny expertly blocked Costa’s path to the ball, causing the striker to fall to the ground. The bull had been provoked, maybe the red shirt was enough. Costa squared up to Arsenal’s French defender and chested him to the turf, similar to a past occurrence in this fixture between Didier Drogba and Jens Lehmann. Koscielny fell to the ground but, with an elastic quality, sprang back up and was immediately staring into Costa’s eyes, with a steely, angry gaze.

It was at this point that Gabriel entered the equation, in the 44th minute of the game. As one would expect, the defender stood up for his defensive partner and placed himself between Costa and Koscielny. Gabriel got a hold of Costa’s throat; Costa then put his hand around Gabriel’s neck but certainly not in a friendly, endearing way. The defender then pushed away from Costa, flinging his left hand, slap-like, which the Spanish striker evaded.

The Stamford Bridge faithful begin to chant the name of their marauding maverick; “DIEGO, DIEGO” rang around West London, followed by incantations of “OFF!OFF!”, although at this point, it was not clear who, if anyone, Mike Dean would decide to give the opportunity of an early shower to. Eventually, through the aide of Petr Cech and Cesc Fabregas, the situation was seemingly calmed.

Childish

Seconds after the situation lost some of its energy, Costa then provided Gabriel with a heavy-handed ‘friendly’ pat on the defender’s back which was returned by the Brazilian to the Spanish striker’s chest before Costa went to pat him again, seemingly to get the final word. The whole affair had descended into a petulant encounter, almost like the sort of stuff seen in a pre-pubescent classroom. But these weren’t 11-year old boys with questionable haircuts and acne; the two people involved were professional men who have competed at the highest level, are paid in the tens-of-thousands-a-week and have received senior international caps.

Mike Dean then gave Gabriel and Costa yellow cards in the 45th minute. It must be presumed that the goings-on between Costa and Koscielny were missed by the officials or the Chelsea striker would have certainly seen red for essentially, hitting an opposition player.

Tell-tale

Gabriel and his nemesis Costa then began to walk towards the middle of the pitch, in preparation of the incoming long-kick but nothing is ever that simple and nice with Costa. The two Brazilian-born men started to exchange some pleasantries in their native Portuguese. As they reached the half-way line, Gabriel faced up towards his goalkeeper and backed into Costa, before kicking out a leg which must have grazed the hairs on Costa’s legs, causing the Spanish striker to exclaim to the referee that he had been kicked. Dean was less than a few-yards away but Costa’s protestations made sure the referee took note. A cluster of Chelsea and Arsenal players surrounded Dean now; Costa took centre-stage once again with his charades-like depiction of “Did you see that?” when he pointed to his eye.

Mike Dean looked at his officials at the side for confirmation. After receiving the necessary information, the referee put his hand in his back pocket, now surrounded by Arsenal players, as the cheers began to spark around Stamford Bridge. The fans knew what was coming. A red card for Gabriel was issued in added time of the first half, with Dean motioning the kick-out after making his decision. The Brazilian defender desperately pointed his hand at Diego Costa, almost in a pathetic acknowledgement that it was Costa’s fault, as if his words in broken-English influenced the officials but the blame solely lay, rather ironically, at his own feet.

Gabriel began to head towards Costa before a combination of Chelsea players prevented him from reaching his destination. He left the pitch, aided by a steward and a chorus of boos and “DIEGO”, with Arsene Wenger fuming on the touchline at how this piece of theatre had played out.

Correct decisions

As mentioned previously, Costa certainly deserved a red card, or two, for what he had done to Koscielny. However, it was missed by the officials so Costa got away scot-free. Both Costa and Gabriel deserved to be punished the same way for what had happened between them, whether that means two red cards, two yellow cards or just a word from the referee; a booking each was fair, therefore.

So, it was completely stupid for Gabriel to allow himself to be reeled in by master-baiter Costa considering he was booked. Whilst the kick-out had miniscule amounts of force behind it, what it did have was intent. As a result, Gabriel had to be red-carded for his actions. Despite being provoked, Gabriel should have risen above the actions taken by Costa like Koscielny did and made sure to let his football ability do the talking.

The imbalance in the numbers assisted Chelsea in their victory, with the Champions eventually running out 2-0 winners following a header from Kurt Zouma and a deflected strike from Hazard, with a Santi Cazorla red card coming in between.

Now Gabriel looks certain to miss the North London derby against Spurs in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday for his less-than-angelic behaviour but may see his three-match ban reduced if an argument of provocation can be made to the FA. His actions may have cost Arsenal against Chelsea but Gabriel had begun to stake a claim for a regular starting position in the team; the question is now if he can return from his suspension and cement his place next to Koscielny.

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About the author
Indrit Berisha
Love football, love Chelsea. Will talk about anything, from any player to any team. Enjoy playing the sport, enjoy watching it, enjoy writing about it.