Diego Costa has played a big part in Chelsea’s splendid start to the season under Antonio Conte. In fact it could be said that Chelsea’s Brazilian born, Spanish striker is thriving under the management of the Italian boss. Costa has started the campaign in red-hot form as he is leading the Premier League scoring charts with 9 goals and for good measure he has added 3 assists in the 11 League games the Blues have played so far this year.
Unfortunately for Diego and Chelsea, the striker has returned to Stamford Bridge from international duty with Spain where he was preparing with his team-mates to face Macedonia in World Cup qualifying on Saturday and also to play vs England at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday in a friendly. As ESPNFC are reporting a club source has indicated that Costa sustained an injury while training with Julen Lopetegui’s Spain and he has withdrawn from the squad who were selected to play both matches.
This is a major disappointment for the Blues as along with Eden Hazard, Diego Costa has formed the main attacking threat for Chelsea so far this season. New £33 million signing, Michy Batshuayi, has not played much for his new club yet but he may well be pressed into action for their next game against Middlesbrough away on Sunday November 20th if Costa cannot recover in time. The good news, if there is any, is that Costa has 9 days to recover and he is already back at Chelsea in the hands of the club’s medical staff.
Costa has scored 4 goals in his last 5 Premier League games. Over this period Chelsea have gone on a 5 game winning streak and have moved up to 2nd in the table only 1 point behind Liverpool in 1st and 1 point ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal in 3rd. Clearly Costa and his goals have been a big part of his team’s success and he clearly enjoys playing for Conte.
We can only hope Costa manages to shake off the injury in time to face Boro or that at the very least he is not sidelined for an extended period. Aside from Michy Batshuayi, Conte only has youngster Dominic Solanke to turn to in place of Diego Costa so it really could be damaging if the big striker is unable to play.