If there is one player who is crucial to Chelsea’s chances of retaining their Premier League title, then José Mourinho at least had a reason to feel satisfied after seeing Swansea City leave Stamford Bridge with a point.
A frenetic match in which Bafétimbi Gomis equalised from the penalty spot after Thibaut Courtois was sent off early in the second half ended with Chelsea bombarding the visitors’ box in search of a precious winner. Leading the charge in injury time, sporting his new slick side parting, was the no less imposing figure of Diego Costa. Despite his best efforts the champions could not find the breakthrough but Costa had shown enough in a typically all-action display to convince Mourinho his main man is back in the groove.
“He did very well, and again the second half is very difficult because it was a big difference, one player less and a lot of effort. Even so I was not expecting him to resist for 90 minutes,” admitted the Chelsea manager.
“But because we wanted to try to get a goal we went with him until the end and it was very important and new for us that he played for 90 minutes with such a physical performance. He is happy with the reaction. He is OK, happy, he is very happy and with the reaction with his body after such a hard game.”
With what already looks a pivotal game against Manchester City next Sunday, one could sense Mourinho’s relief. After a hot and stressful day which ended with him unleashing his fury on his physios Jon Fearn and Eva Carneiro before refusing to criticise the referee, Michael Oliver, the Portuguese can at least plan for the visit to the Etihad Stadium with his best team available, aside from Courtois.
Costa had been due to feature in the Community Shield last week before pulling out with his perennial hamstring problem but he showed no signs of injury during a ding-dong battle with the Swansea captain, Ashley Williams.
There were a scoring attempt from an outrageous angle, lung-busting charges down the wing and plenty of indignation whenever a decision went against him, with Mourinho his champion cheerleader on the touchline.
Yet it was the powerful striker at the other end who had the final say. A heavy first touch can often let Gomis down but when he is in full flow the Frenchman is hard to stop. Courtois, who had picked up a knock in the warm-up, paid the price of Gary Cahill’s slow reaction, to leave Chelsea facing what could have been only their second league defeat at Stamford Bridge under Mourinho.
Thankfully for him, they had Asmir Begovic ready to step in and the man signed from Stoke showed he is a more than capable replacement for Petr Cech.
“My club did very well by getting a keeper on time and not on 31 August because, if my club gives me a keeper on 31 August, then we have a problem not just for today but also for the next match. Unless the people understand that it’s not a red card and they clear the suspension,” said Mourinho, unable to resist one dig.
“We don’t miss Petr. We’ve got a good keeper. The problem with Petr is not that we miss him because we have two excellent keepers. The problem with Petr is that an opponent is better than before.”
Having conceded nine times against Chelsea last season, Swansea’s sense of adventure on the opening day was admirable. The platform for Jefferson Montero’s sparkling performance on the left wing was an outstanding midfield display from Jonjo Shelvey, who showed a range of passing that must have been of interest to the England manager, Roy Hodgson.
The Swansea manager, Garry Monk, certainly believes the former Liverpool player is capable of progressing to international honours after outshining Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fàbregas at Stamford Bridge.
“I spoke to him about this seriously. Jonjo’s still a young player which you forget about with him because he looks a lot older,” Monk said with a smile. “His vision, his technical ability is excellent and it’s just trying to get him to a level where he can perform to that for every single 90 minutes, week in and week out. I spoke to him, his father and his agent and we all had a good chat. He realises how serious it is at this level and what type of player he can be. It’s all right me wanting it for him but he has to want it for himself.
“He is maturing but we need to push him, keep on top of him and make him the best player he can be. He has the right attitude now and hopefully that performance can give him the confidence to go on and be even better.”
Man of the match Jefferson Montero (Swansea)
