Diego Costa Chelsea’s catalyst in impressive return to form against Southampton

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It may come as no surprise that Chelsea’s title wobble came at a time when their talismanic striker Diego Costa was in the middle of his longest goal drought since moving to London in 2014. The Spaniard had not scored in 662 minutes and seven consecutive games for Antonio Conte’s side before he found the net on Tuesday night.

He could not have decided to turn his form around at a better time, though, with Chelsea under pressure from Southampton as they looked to throw the title race up into the air. Nonetheless, with the Blues looking to avoid dropping points for the second Premier League game in a row, Costa’s brace sealed the three points for Conte’s side.

Dropped for the trip to Wembley at the weekend after a woefully ineffective display against Manchester United last weekend, the decision by Conte appeared to have the desired effect as Costa made a nuisance of himself in the opening stages, dragging Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens all over the place at the back for Southampton.

His first important contribution came with the opening goal as it was his run and cut back that set up Eden Hazard to find the back of the net in the opening stages with what was a crucial goal to ensure that the confidence of the FA Cup win over Tottenham continued to flow.

Costa was clearly desperate for a goal, attempting an acrobatic overhead kick as Gary Cahill nodded in a second to take the lead before half-time. He got his goal in the second half, though, with his physicality seeing him outmuscle former Chelsea man Ryan Bertrand to get on the end of Cesc Fabregas’ delicate chip, before heading into the back of the net.

Not content with just the one goal, Costa sought to add a second and he did so in exquisite style in the final minute. Picking the ball up out wide, he cut through the Saints’ midfield and defence with smart one-twos with Pedro and Eden Hazard to open space for him to coolly slot the ball past a helpless Fraser Forster and into the bottom corner, putting the cherry on the cake of a wonderful display.

Speculation continues to circulate regarding the future of the resilient 28-year-old beyond the end of this season, but he is clearly determined to go out with a bang if he does leave Stamford Bridge, with a second Premier League winners’ medal under his belt. This kind of display will go a long way to ensuring that is the case.

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