Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid: Diego Costa our good luck charm?

Arsenal will be hoping (yes, hoping) to match up against Diego Costa today, as the nefarious forward has become our own good luck charm.

Nothing about the match today is going to be easy. While it’s true that Atletico Madrid doesn’t face attacks like Arsenal regularly in La Liga, their defensive record has to stand out as the main obstacle for this Gunners side to break down.

They will have to be at their absolute best, and then some, to overcome this defense. They will need precision, creativity, and, most important, that all-important ingredient of clinical finishing, which was lacking in the first leg.

But they will also need their defense to not screw the pooch. Which is always the biggest ask because, as we saw in the first leg, 80 minutes of dominance doesn’t matter when a single defensive mistake can undo all of the hard work.

Thankfully, Diego Costa is projected to start. I say thankfully, because I was just starting to look forward to facing Costa and Chelsea when he fled back to Atletico Madrid. True, he had a streak of being a bit of an Arsenal killer, but once we added Shkodran Mustafi, Costa seemed unable to overcome the German.

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Time and time again, we saw the absolute best of Mustafi when he was tasked with locking down the Spanish menace. He got under his skin and stuck to him like glue and, in the process, Costa was rendered useless.

That carried over to the FA Cup final where Rob Holding accomplished the same thing. It appeared to be a systematic success hinging on the presence of Diego Costa.

We talk a lot about the systematic failure of this defense, and how consistent defensive errors have to be a sign of something bigger holding the team – in particularly the defense – back. That being the case, can’t the same be said about a clear systematic success?

We need the best out of Mustafi and, thinking of the times where he has been at his best, most of those times involve having to guard Mustafi. I’m not going to argue with the formula so long as it’s working, which it appears to be.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Atletico Madrid - First Leg

In a search for hope, I believe that we should be excited that Costa is going to be available and I hope he starts in this one, because it gives me this belief that it could trigger that systematic success we seem to have found against him.