West Ham Boss Sam Allardyce has warned his players against getting Diego Costa riled up, ahead of tomorrow’s clash vs Chelsea FC.
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Allardyce believes that the striker — who has scored 17 goals in 20 appearances for the Blues — thrives when he gets wound up by opposition players.
"“I think trying to wind him up only makes him better, which is a silly thing to do!”“He has scored all types of goals throughout the season, which is why he looks like one of the few who can get in and around the 20-goal mark or better this season.”-Sam AllardyceSource: Daily Star"
The Hammers’ manager fears that his defenders could get sucked into a battle with the beastly forward, and has asked them to ignore his taunts.
"“He will take a bit of shackling. We can’t get involved with him. I’ve told our central defenders not to get involved with the fact he might try and upset them.”“As many people have said, he’s an old-fashioned type of centre-forward because he seems to like getting motivated on the physical aspect of it and the niggle aspect of it.“I’ve told them not to get involved in that and get distracted and focus on him particularly in the final third.”"
Costa scored one of his best goals of the season against West Ham at Stamford Bridge in a 2-0 victory. Allardyce certainly knows what the forward is capable of, and he also knows that he plays on the edge.
Sam Allardyce – Credit: deeja1 (Flickr Creative Commons)
He doesn’t consider Costa to be the only threat, though, noting that Chelsea are bolstered with a fair amount of physical players in their squad.
"“When you put in Zouma, Cahill, Terry, Ivanovic and Costa in your box, you are running out of men with the same physical attributes to mark them.”"
Chelsea’s defenders aren’t goal shy, Branislav Ivanovic especially. The Serbian has been prolific (for a defender) in front of goal this season, scoring seven goals thus far. Terry has also chipped in with six of his own, making Chelsea a threat from all angles.
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West Ham haven’t won in their last six games, and with the buoyant league leaders coming to Upton Park, that number could easily stretch to seven.
After a flying start to their campaign, the Hammers’ form has dipped considerably. To make matters worse, the oft-injured Andy Caroll has again been ruled out for the rest of the season.
They will need to be at their best vs the Blues tomorrow, and something tells me that they will have no problem doing such. After all, everyone raises their game when Jose Mourinho and Chelsea come to town.