Diego Costa Set To Miss Manchester United Vs Chelsea Clash

This could probably be the best news to filter into Old Trafford in recent times. For a team that has one of the worst defensive units in the English Premier League this season, what news could be better than the fact that the League’s highest goal scorer will be unavailable for their upcoming clash. Yes, Chelsea’s summer arrival, Diego Costa might not be travelling down to Manchester next weekend when Chelsea will attempt to increase their lead on the table. Costa who has been battling with a recurrent hamstring injury since the beginning of this season will now be forced to take some time off the Premier League action.

Since he arrived back to England from international duty last Monday, he has spent most of the week nursing a thigh injury and the Chelsea manager cannot be precise about when the lethal striker will make his return. A frustrated Jose Mourinho stated that:

‘I have no idea, the only thing I can say is that, after the Arsenal game, he went to the national team. He played two big matches against Slovakia and Luxembourg and he came back in conditions where he is not available to play for his club.’

The Spaniard missed only about 8 minutes in the Euro 2016 qualifiers and on getting back, had to sit out in the recent Premier League clash against Crystal Palace. However, Manchester United couldn’t care less about what did or didn’t cause Diego Costa’s unavailability, what they would be glad about is the fact that the pinpoint forward won’t be on hand to decimate their already deflated defence.

The Red Devil’s defence has been anything but solid this season, apart from the fact the squad released three senior defenders this summer in Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, the squad and the defence in particular have been a victim of incessant injury worries and it was just the technical dynamism of Louis van Gaal and strokes of luck that kept the team going.

However, how would the likes of Tyler Blacklet or Phil Jones who is just returning from injury fare against such prolific striking ability? Not that with the absence of the league’s current highest scorerwill ascertain a Manchester United victory, in fact it is far from it, but the frail defence that Louis van Gaal currently has could use more space which would definitely be unavailable were Diego Costa present.

More so, in the midfield, one of the Red Devil’s more experienced anchors, Michael Carrick will still be settling down into the game plan having been side-lined since July. In a twist of events, Manchester United might get a draw or even the 3 maximum points if things go right, but whichever way it goes, it should be less disastrous for the Red Devils with the absence of Costa who has scored nine goals in seven matches this season.