Arsenal: Rob Holding elevates himself to hero status

Rob Holding has wonderfully revealed what he said to Diego Costa during Arsenal’s FA Cup final win over Chelsea, elevating himself to true hero status in the process.

Diego Costa is a wonderful player. He is especially wonderful against Arsenal, given their penchant for crumbling under the pressure of a bruising centre-forward. But for all his shenanigans, for his fighting, his ferocious temper and his hustling, bustling, out-muscling style, he is a player of great quality.

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He has proven this over several seasons, with Chelsea and Atletico Madrid. But that does not make him a likeable man. In fact, he is a truly detestable human being. Well, let me temper that statement. He is a detestable human being if he doesn’t play for your team.

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So imagine the joy that it brought to see Rob Holding, a mere 21-year-old kid, playing in the first final of his senior career handle his bullying ways with such consummate ease, so much so, that he was even able to enter into Costa’s games and showmanship without losing his rag. When asked what he said to Brazilian-turned-Spanish monster, Holding revealed, with brilliant simplicity, that he called him a ‘nutter’:

"“An expletive, then I just called him a nutter basically. Something’s not right in his head I don’t think. I knew what he was going to play like, I knew he was going to try the mind games and try and throw me off my game, so I just didn’t rise to it and got back into position. I think he sort of tapped my chest so I think there was a little bit of respect there maybe, so he was alright.”"

Holding was asked about a particular moment part way through the game where he and Costa shared a few words, with both squaring up to each other, as if to start a fight, had they not known the seriousness and the consequences of the situation.

Both had been battling for the ball, with Costa particularly frustrated with the attention that he was receiving from the equally physical Holding and Per Mertesacker. Typically, it was the Chelsea striker who failed to keep his cool, tipping over the fine line that he often tip-toes along.

Throughout the final, Holding was outstanding. Having played in the Championship with Bolton Wanderers the previous season, opponents trying to bully him was no new difficulty. But the pressure of playing in the FA Cup at Wembley, against players of the ability that Chelsea boasted, that was a whole new scenario.

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And he handled it with class, dignity and just an element of cheekiness. It was perfect and has now elevated him to hero status among the Arsenal faithful.