Chelsea coach Hiddink accepts Watford deserved a point

Guus Hiddink acknowledged a draw against Watford was a fair result but the interim Chelsea boss was delighted to see Diego Costa back among the goals.

Costa netted twice, with the Spaniard’s brace sandwiching Watford goals from Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo at Stamford Bridge. The hosts had a glorious chance to claim all three points but Oscar put his 80th-minute penalty over the crossbar after slipping upon striking his spot-kick.

The afternoon ended on a sour note for Costa with a late booking ruling him out of Monday’s trip to Manchester United.

Chelsea and Watford remain in 15th and seventh place respectively, and Hiddink accepted both sides deserved a point.

He said: “At the end it is a fair result.

“You have to have respect Watford because they have been on a winning streak and have very decent strikers. But in the end I think we could have made a little bit more, we had some chances and it was a pity Oscar slipped for the penalty.

“Diego Costa, when he is focused on what he is good at like today, he has his profit from his play. He will not be there [against United] which means we have to think a bit. Eden Hazard came back in the last week and had two training sessions and we hope he can be fully fit.”

“Every Chelsea v Manchester United game is big but this one is especially of course. I hope we can show the same ambition there that we showed in a big part of this game today.”

Hiddink had spoken before the game of his ambitions for the rest of the season, with the Dutch coach refusing to rule out a top-four finish.

The interim boss, though, was less optimistic after failing to claim the three points against the Hornets.

“It’s difficult,” Hiddink admitted. “To be finishing fourth you have to win these games and also depend on your opponents. But I want to see the team showing that ambition until it is mathematically impossible.”