Chelsea and their new coach Hiddink shocked Arsenal with a very important win for them to restore some confidence and initiate any comeback to n European berth next year. Arsenal went down to 10 men early in the game when Mertesecker got sent off and was never able to recover. Diego Costa was the sole scorer in the London derby.
Coach Hiddink reacts on a glorious victory:
‘I am very pleased with the attitude of the team. I’m also pleased with the way the team tried to play – it was not just reactive, but proactive in the first part of the first half.
‘We showed ambition to go forwards. We had one or two good chances through Willian. The team showed its ambition and that was pleasing against an opponent who are very skilful even with one man down. They always have the ability to surprise so we were very pleased to see the attitude and also the way of playing.
‘The only thing you can criticise is that we didn’t go for the kill to make it 2-0. There were a lot of options in both halves and then there could be a loose ball from a corner or whatever which could have caused an equaliser. That’s the only thing we didn’t do that we can be critical of.’
On the 4th place: t’s a gap but if you see the results in the Premier League, how competitive all the teams are, it’s unpredictable which means all teams can beat all teams. With the gap it’s difficult but when the captain says that I will follow my captain.’
On Drogba in the coach staffing
‘In the short term, no, but in the longer-term we talked about players with a big image for this club being welcome. There’s no time issue on this so I wish him all the best now in one of his later seasons.’
