Diego Costa dive: Chelsea allow striker's latest controversy to throw them off kilter

Costa threw himself to the ground when clean in on goal

(Reuters)

After three home defeats this season, and amid the most dramatic collapse in the recent history of title defences, no win is to be sniffed at. During a crisis this bad, anything that slows Chelsea’s descent, or helps them to grab hold of a rung on the bottom of the ladder they are sliding down, is to be embraced.

This may even go down as one of the most important wins in the recent history of Chelsea, or even of the career of Jose Mourinho, if it turns out to be a turning point, one that leads to a win against Stoke City on Saturday, and then Norwich City and Maccabi Tel Aviv the far side of the international break.

And yet, as a 90-minute football performance, or an indication of where this Chelsea team is, in terms of confidence and form, it was not especially impressive. This was a desperately nervous and tense night, in which Chelsea needed an own goal, and yet another Willian free-kick, to beat a Dynamo Kyiv side who should not be causing them any problems.

It was also a night in which the tension and drama of another controversial refereeing decision threatened to dominate the whole affair, and threatened to throw the players off their rhythm.

That moment came in the final seconds of the first half. Diego Costa raced in behind, onto a through ball. He held off the challenge of Yevhen Khacheridi, from his left, before Aleksandar Dragovic came in from his right. Dragovic pulled Costa, who thought about it, then went down. Czech referee Pavel Kralovec thought about it, and told Costa to get up.

Jose Mourinho reacted by stamping his feet, turning around and charging towards Rui Faria and Steve Holland sat on the bench, his face contorted in a masochistic manic cackle. For Mourinho, this must have felt like vindication for all of his theories about referees who are, as he said at the cost of £50,000, “afraid to give decisions to Chelsea”.

The capacity crowd, who had been subdued for much of the evening, fed off Mourinho’s sense of grievance, making it their own. They booed the half-time whistle, and sung bluntly that that Mourinho had been right about the referees all along.

Before the game, John Terry spoke of how Chelsea were “prepared to fight”, and how much better their last three or four performances have been, and yet the reality of this season is that almost every time anything has gone against Chelsea in a game, they have wilted. That was the story with the two most damaging defeats, the 3-1 home losses to Southampton on 3 October and Liverpool last Saturday, in which Chelsea simply could not respond to the shock of conceding a goal.

Those were the games that prompted the two most unusual Mourinho responses – the seven-minute answer after Saints, the “I have nothing to say” interview after Liverpool – prompting the most serious questions about what has happened to the steely mentality of this side, and their coach?

This is why Chelsea’s second half here, in an stadium of almost silent tension, was so instructive. At first, they struggled with the chaos of the non-decision, failing to take control of the game, allowing Dynamo back into it.

Dynamo’s equaliser – which led to six of the more anxious minutes of even this painful season – felt like it was increasingly likely as the second half went on. It was not that Dynamo were playing well, but that Chelsea are currently causing themselves as many problems as any opposition. All it took was for Asmir Begovic to concede a needless corner, which he then failed to punch. Dragovic did the rest at the far post, with thanks to the hip of Denys Garmash.

But then, after conceding the equaliser, they had a few minutes to look at what a draw might mean for them, for their season and their future. And they turned the game back on itself, in a way they have struggled to do all season. There may lie a lesson, and a promise.