Watford boss Flores praises ´fighting´ Costa

Quique Sanchez Flores was not worried by the coming together between Juan Carlos Paredes and Diego Costa in Watford’s 0-0 draw with Chelsea and even praised the opposition forward’s “fighting” attitude.

The Chelsea striker went to ground under slight contact from the Watford defender at the end of the first half and he then pushed his rival to the ground a few moments later.

The incidents saw players from the two sides crowd together, with referee Mike Dean showing both Costa and Paredes yellow cards.

Flores, however, praised the Spain international’s approach and was unmoved by the run-in.

“I like this kind of player, who is fighting all the time,” Flores said of Costa to BT Sport.

“He is a very competitive player, very tough. He had a little problem with Paredes but these sort of things happen sometimes in football.”

The Watford head coach felt his team were deserving of a point against the defending Premier League champions.

Flores added: “I’m very happy. After 10 minutes we played really well in the first half, we controlled the ball and had good chances.

“To score a point against Chelsea is really nice and we have shown we can get points against the big teams.

“I think we deserved the draw. The competitive level of the squad is high.”