Chelsea draw was deserved Guus Hiddink

Chelsea interim manager Guus Hiddink felt Diego Costa’s late equaliser against Manchester United at the Stamford Bridge was fully deserved.

Chelsea fell behind to a sensational Jesse Lingard opener on the hour, after the 23-year old winger spinned sublimely to score from inside the box.

However, with the Blues seemingly on course for a first defeat under Hiddink, Diego Costa latched on to a Cesc Fabregas pass after Daley Blind slipped and rounded David de Gea to score.

Both De Gea and Thibaut Courtois were lauded by football fans across the world for their performances, producing spectacular strings of saves to keep their sides in the match.

There was serious cause for concern, however, with Kurt Zouma stretched off after landing awkwardly following a clearance. Hiddink said he hopes the defender will be able to feature between now and the end of the season but expressed his worry.

Hiddink said he was particularly pleased by his side’s reaction after falling behind 1-0 in the 60^th minute.

“We deserved a point in the end because in any minute you can score. Man United started very well in the first 20 minutes, they stretched us and we had a reaction where we dropped back instead of going forward and going into the duels. We reacted after 20 minutes, went into the duels and defended collectively.”

“They scored a beautiful goal in the 60^th minute through Lingard, but without resistance on our part which is what we have to improve,” he said.

“We reacted very well going for the equaliser, you can complement both goalies because in key situations they did their job. At the end we had some chances so we deserved this point.”

The Dutch coach felt his side should have been awarded a first-half penalty when Daley Blind handled a John Terry strike, speaking about the importance of getting his side back to winning matches regularly.

The defending champions sit outside the top half of the Premier League table at position 13, but Hiddink still feels they can salvage a Top 4 berth.

“I said before when we were one point away from the relegation zone our target must still be fourth but I also said we have to start winning. Of course we are unbeaten but if you want to get into fourth place you must have victories and we’ve had too many draws. Mathematically it might be possible but we must start winning again.”