Jose
Mourinho needs Diego Costa more than the Chelsea striker needs him, says
Paul Merson.
Costa was dropped to the bench for Chelsea's 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane and
made his displeasure clear, flinging his bib at Mourinho towards the end of
the game after a brief warm up.
Mourinho denied suggestions of a rift with the 27-year-old but, after Costa
had found the net for the first time in seven games for club and country in
his previous Premier League outing against Norwich, Merson feels the Chelsea
boss was wrong to sideline his best forward.
While Costa has only scored three times in the Premier League so far this
season, he was the club's top scorer in 2014/15 and Merson says 14th-placed
Chelsea need him in the side to continue climbing the table after their
nightmare start to the campaign.
Merson told Sky Sports: "Mourinho needs Costa more than Costa needs
Mourinho, especially with no other strikers scoring goals at the club right
now.
"You don't throw your bib at somebody if you like them and there's clearly a
problem there.
"Costa's goal against Norwich was a huge one and Mourinho's left himself in
a tough situation by dropping him after that.
"Don't get me wrong, Costa hasn't been great and they did well at Tottenham
without him, but you can't play like that all season, teams will find a way
to stop them."
Merson does, however, expect Costa to be recalled next weekend as Chelsea
host Bournemouth on Saturday Night Football.
He added: "Bournemouth is a nice game to bring him back for and certainly
not the sort of game which you'd go into without a big striker."
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