Three things we learnt from the weekend, feat. Chelsea and Manchester United

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Conte must not let moody Costa harm the Chelsea morale

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Pre-match, there was an ominous sense of gloom around Chelsea. The news of Diego Costa’s scuffle with Conte and the fitness staff at Chelsea, compounded with the fact that Chelsea’s 14-match had recently come to an end, implied that Chelsea’s grip on the title was about to significantly loosen. It was the week where Chelsea could see their star striker and top scorer joining the Chinese Super League out of nowhere and their lead at the top of the table cut down, especially after an attacking onslaught from Leicester that Chelsea had to fight off in the opening five minutes.

However, Chelsea were brilliant and came out 3-0 winners against Leicester, showing the high morale and team unity that Antonio Conte has fostered since his arrival. Diego Costa’s moodiness, however, has the potential to derail the Chelsea team chemistry. Because of that, this week, Antonio Conte has a decision to make. Either he can satiate Costa’s mood swings and refocus him on winning the Premier League or he must sell him now. It takes one angry player to derail it all.

Conte has done a stellar job until now of man-managing Costa and now he faces his ultimate challenge with him. What the match against Leicester reaffirmed is that Chelsea can get the job done comfortably with or without the Spanish international. However, in big matches against more testing opposition than Leicester or Bournemouth, Costa often provides a difference that Pedro cannot when playing as a false nine. If Conte can’t make Costa happy, then he shouldn’t bother keeping him in the squad. Angry Costa is a huge liability as Jose Mourinho would testify.

Conte could sell Costa now and still have time to sign another striker since it appears he does not trust Michy Batshuayi.