On the twenty-fourth of September, Chelsea were humbled 3-0 by London rivals Arsenal at the Emirates.
It looked like Antonio Conte’s season was unravelling in front of his eyes.
But Chelsea have improved vastly since that defeat and they haven’t lost in their last eight Premier League encounters. In fact they’ve managed to record eight straight wins in those games and that includes valuable victories over Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and last term’s champions Leicester City.
Today they went one behind against Pep Guardiola’s well fancied Manchester City side but the ‘Blues’ overturned that to end the game as 3-1 victors.
That run of wins has seen Chelsea rise to top spot in the English Premier League.
There have been various reasons for the huge upturn in form for Chelsea.
Conte’s decision to revert to a back three might have been ‘Plan D’ for the Italian but it’s worked out brilliantly well for the coach as his side have conceded just two goals in their last eight league encounters.
Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante have developed a good understanding in midfield and do an excellent job when marshalling in-front of the back three.
Unlike many of their rivals, Chelsea don’t have Europe to worry about and this has meant that their players have had more rest time in between fixtures.
The return to form of 2014-15 player of the season Eden Hazard has had a massive impact on the team. The Belgian creative maestro is once again looking unplayable as he pulls the strings and constantly causes danger with his runs, passing ability and his vision.
But for me, it has been hitman Diego Costa and his performances that have tipped the edge in Chelsea’s favour so far during this campaign.
The Spanish international forward leads the Premier League scoring charts with his eleven goals, one ahead of Man City’s Sergio Aguero.
In this golden run of eight wins in a row Costa has smashed in six goals, created four assists and won three man of the match awards. Today he managed to record a goal, an assist and the man of the match award as his team outgunned City at the Etihad.
Another standout stat for Costa in these eight wins has been his lack of seeing a yellow card being brandished in his face.
There’s no doubt that Diego Costa is a battling warrior. The striker often gets into tussles with opposing team’s defences. He’s only one booking away from a suspension after picking up four yellows in his first six league appearances. Arguably the tough-man could have seen two reds in his opening two appearances this season.
But while he hasn’t lost his competitive edge, the gritty hitman has managed to keep his discipline. Teams have still tried riling him up with late challenges but importantly Costa hasn’t taken the bait. The twenty-eight year old has let his football do the talking and it has shouted in the faces of all his critics.
Many a boss would take a player off if they were walking this kind of suspension tight-rope but Conte has shown faith in Diego. He’s managed to complete the game in five of the last eight in the league and only once has he been brought off before the eightieth minute mark. It shows you the influence that the new boss has had on his striker and Costa has repaid his faith.
Conte has recently praised his top marksman:
“I think he is one of the best strikers in the world and he has to continue in this way”.
You can see that the former Atletico Madrid man is once again enjoying his football. Plus he’s staying fit!
He leads the line excellently well and must love having the likes of Hazard, Cesc Fabregas, Willian, Pedro and Victor Moses supplying him with all the ammunition that he could ask for!
Yes he can bully defenders but Diego can do more than that. He times his runs and has deceptively good pace as well.
He also never gives a ball up, that could be seen in the first half against Man City when he managed to rob the ball away from John Stones in the penalty area.
Costa’s ability to seek out others is another big bonus, in total he has five assists to his name this term. The big forward doesn’t just think of himself, he looks around him and if he sees someone in a better position he’ll lay it off to them. That’s a quality that most goalscoring strikers lack.
This season Diego Costa is once again showing us that he can offer Chelsea so much as their lone striker. He’s banging in the goals and causing opposing defenders countless problems. But importantly the Chelsea attacker is doing it all without the controversy that usually follows him around!