Jose Mourinho will have the FA’s disciplinary department on red alert again.
Mourinho says Diego Costa is a great leader, strong influence and wishes more of his Chelsea players would follow his example.
Yes, you read that right. That’s Dirty Diego we are talking about - the bad-boy striker just back from a three-game retrospective ban for violent conduct.
But Mourinho is absolutely spot on this time.
Costa was terrific. He set the tone for Saturday’s victory over Aston Villa because he worked hard, battled and scrapped for the three points.
This was not Chelsea back to their best. Not by a million miles. They were stilted, lacking in rhythm and cohesion. But they got the job done - and Costa was at the heart of it.
The Brazil-born Spain international put himself in where it hurt, did not react to provocation from Aston Villa (including Ashley Westwood grabbing him by the crown jewels) and scored one while playing a part in the other as Alan Hutton scored an own goal.
That is exactly what Chelsea will need to claw their way back up the table and Costa showed why he is so important to the team, Mourinho and their chances of getting into the top four this season.
Chelsea boss Mourinho said: “He is a very good player. Sometimes, personality qualities add something to the team.
“When you speak about leadership, when you like to speak about players because of their age, their experience and the armband. That’s what you try to find - different leaders in teams.
“Diego isn’t a leader in the dressing room - he doesn’t speak English well. But in the game, the way he plays, the way he gives his body to the cause - his body is always punished - is brilliant.
“That’s why he is Diego. He is an influence. I don’t like to individualise - it is never fair because it is difficult for the team to be bad and a striker to be brilliant.
“But the character, the personality, the movement, the starting pressure [high] up to stretch the game when the team is under pressure, to ask for the ball in the space, to let the team come out of the pressure zones. He has a lot of tactical quality the team needs.”
Costa got into hot water last season for his stamp on Emre Can and was banned last month after his ding-dong with Arsenal defenders Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel.
It would be naive to suggest he has learnt his lesson and has become a reformed character.
There will always be the devil in him and he needs that to be successful on the pitch, to be a pushing, pulling, battling nuisance for defenders.
But the 27-year-old has become a marked man now and Mourinho praised him for not reacting to Villa’s wind-ups but also suggested the perpetrators should also find themselves in trouble and it is time their dirty tricks were shown on TV.
“I’m pleased he didn’t react,” said Mourinho. “But I would be even happier if the people who find his hypothetical, or real, negative moments were honest the other way, and show and show and show.
“He will get that until the moment people point the finger at them and show the images, re-show the images and have the top pundits speaking about it.
“At this moment, he is the bad guy and if you are telling me here that this happened and are already saying that in the next matches they will do the same it is something that is easy to understand. If it’s easy to understand, then show.
“Of course we need him. When you lose him we’re a bit in trouble because the team always depends on a striker like him, from a character and personality like him. So when we don’t, of course we miss him.”
Costa was probably the difference between the two teams.
His desire and determination were outstanding. Villa were the better team in the first half but all that changed when keeper Brad Guzan made a terrible clearance.
It put Joleon Lescott under pressure, Willian nicked the ball and set up Costa to score after 34 minutes.
The second came after the break when Costa’s pass deflected off Hutton and into the net.
The luck was against Villa, who do lack quality in their ranks but put in a performance which proved they are behind under-pressure manager Tim Sherwood.
Chelsea still have issues.
New signing Baba Rahman made his first Premier League start and was awful. No wonder Mourinho has been reluctant to play him.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek was hooked after 45 minutes. So much for Chelsea’s youth development.
Mourinho admitted he needed more solidity and brought on Nemanja Matic. Pedro was awful again, but Ramires and Cesc Fabregas better.
The champions as a whole showed signs of recovery and now they just need momentum because they are just six points off fourth place - they can still turn this season around.
In pictures — Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa:
And much of that is down to Costa.
They need him to keep going because Loic Remy has struggled and Radamel Falcao did not even make the bench on Saturday.
Costa is their only hope.
But, despite the transformation from public enemy No 1 to match-winner, even Mourinho laughed at the suggestion that Costa could be a potential future captain on the back of him saying he was a good leader.
“You’d kill me! These guys, they want to kill me!” laughed Mourinho.
The Special One can laugh again at last.