Sulking Costa gives Mourinho another headache... but is Hazard really the solution?

The header flew over the Tottenham bar. A target man accustomed to attacking crosses might have scored. The Diego Costa of the first half of last season would have scored. The Costa of the first half of this season might not have even entered the penalty area.

Yet it wasn't Costa. This, impersonating a centre-forward, trying to out-jump taller centre-halves, was Eden Hazard. Told he was not Jose Mourinho's perfect No.10, he was reinvented as a false nine. He may have been Chelsea's heavenly 11 last season, winning the Footballer of the Year award when deployed as a left winger, but spent Sunday at White Hart Lane in his third favourite position, if that.

With his admirable attitude and his work ethic, his dextrous touch and elusive movement, Hazard passed the audition. When the clearest chance presented itself, he failed it. Neither is a coincidence. He remains a wonderfully talented footballer. His reputation was not made with thumping headers. He became Chelsea's pivotal player by displacing Juan Mata. His task in a derby was to replace the dropped Costa.

Hazard did not score, and he does not these days. His wait for his 50th Chelsea goal dates back to May. Even Emile Heskey might term that a drought. In Hazard's case, it has spanned 24 games. It made him a still stranger choice to lead the line for Chelsea against a defensively diligent Tottenham team.

He came as close as anyone in a blue shirt, but with a second chance, a technically terrific volley from Branislav Ivanovic's diagonal ball. Hugo Lloris answered it with an equally fine save. It would have been a stunning goal, a bonus rather than a striker's bread and butter. It was the finish of a flair player, an indication of ability, but the first, headed opportunity was more significant. Mourinho is a pragmatist. He plays the percentages. And an orthodox, excellent centre-forward would convert a sizeable portion of such crosses.

Chelsea thought they had that player. But Costa has scored as many league goals this season as Russell Martin. A footballer who could start an argument in an empty room should have few grounds for complaints about his omission. Costa looked grumpy as he sat on the bench, but then he looks grumpy on the pitch, too. He looked grumpy when he threw his bib towards Mourinho after realising he would not come on.

Perhaps he had occupied himself before then by goading John Obi Mikel or trying to provoke a reaction from Ruben Loftus-Cheek. More often than not, however, he seemed to be disappearing into his hat. Anonymity does not come naturally to the agent provocateur, but he looked to blend into the background.

Perhaps it is tough love, perhaps just toughness. Mourinho has already dropped John Terry, Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas and Hazard this season. One by one, the totems of his title-winning team are being knocked down; sometimes by his actions, sometimes by his words. He took a swipe at one of his talismanic strikers, Didier Drogba, in print and another, Costa when he named the teamsheet.

There has been a recklessness to Mourinho's rhetoric. Indeed, there was when he said that Wesley Sneijder and Deco were better No.10s in his teams than Hazard. At least the Belgian produced a reasonable response. Perhaps, though, Pedro might have been the more logical choice as the stand-in striker. He is more familiar with those duties from his Barcelona days. As it was, Oscar, the king of the nutmegs, flourished in Hazard's stead on the left. The man on his longest barren run at the club was the supposed striker. And to think that Claudio Ranieri was the Chelsea manager known as 'the Tinkerman'.

Mourinho's quest to find a winning formula continues. A draw at White Hart Lane counts as one of his better results in a sorry season. The only flagship win was secured by Costa, but with the skulduggery that saw off Arsenal.

Hazard's methods were more legal and more laudable. Yet, fundamentally, he is not a striker and Mourinho's sides, unlike Pep Guardiola's, are not equipped to play with a false nine in lieu of a centre-forward. They had a craftsman where they are accustomed to seeing a warrior.

Perhaps Mourinho has gone to war with a man he defended when others attacked him. Perhaps his selection was intended as a short, sharp shock to Costa. Certainly Hazard's use in attack is not a long-term solution although, unless Costa returns to form, none is apparent. Radamel Falcao is both injured and abject. Loic Remy will return from paternity leave but while he is an underrated performer, Mourinho has given few signs that he regards the Frenchman as a first choice. The Portuguese has tried to bracket Hazard with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo before but he is neither as prolific nor as adept at scoring the predators' goals.

Yet he is at his best in the ranks of the creators. Tottenham can testify to the benefits of possessing a high-quality, motivated specialist striker. Harry Kane can be forgiven for drawing a rare blank. His previous six games had produced nine goals. His barren spell has lasted one match. It is easy to see why Chelsea are credited with an interest in a player whose relentless enthusiasm stands in contrast to Costa's persistent petulance. Because, unless Costa returns to the team and the form he showed in 2014, Mourinho's striking dilemma continues.