Chelsea’s Success Largely Due To The Diego Costa Factor

Chelsea’s Success Largely Due To The Diego Costa Factor

Well this season has seen Chelsea transformed from the mid-table side they were last season under Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink into the almost unbeatable Premier League leaders we see this season under new Italian boss Antonio Conte. The transformation at Stamford Bridge is in no small part due to the play of Spanish striker Diego Costa who has been leading the Premier League in scoring all season long. Costa has 11 goals so far this campaign and has added an impressive 5 assists as the player has been doing all the things asked of him. He has been making the runs in behind, linking up with others, holding the ball up brilliantly as well as being clinical in front of goal when opportunities have come his way.

Arguably the biggest change with Diego Costa has been in his attitude. Gone are the days of the striker reacting petulantly to opposing players and to referee decisions. Naturally as a result of this improved attitude to the game, his disciplinary record has drastically improved as he has yet to receive a red card and has only received a very reasonable 4 yellow cards so far this season for Chelsea. On Saturday in the 3-1 win over Man City after Sergio Aguero committed a horrific tackle on David Luiz at the end of the match and many players from both sides came together in a big altercation which resulted in red cards for Aguero and Fernandinho, Costa kept a cool head and stayed out of trouble. His conduct was a credit to him as he scored a great goal and played a superb all-around game and impressively stayed away from the melee which ensued at the end of the match when last season you would likely have seen him in the middle of such an incident.

Clearly Antonio Conte has managed to connect with Diego Costa and has got him playing the best football of his Chelsea career by some distance. Both manager and player deserve a great deal of credit and Blues fans will be hoping that things remain this way for a long time to come.