Costa cracker fires Chelsea back on top
LONDON (Reuters) – Saturday’s Premier League goal glut turned into a trickle on Sunday but Diego Costa’s class still shone through as he fired Chelsea to a ninth win in a row and back to the top of the table.
The Spain international’s fine second-half strike at Stamford Bridge secured a 1-0 victory over a defensive West Bromwich Albion that restored the Blues’ three-point advantage over Arsenal.
With the game heading for a goalless stalemate, Costa seized on a defensive error to break the deadlock with a superb shot into the top left corner in the 76th minute.
It was the league top scorer’s 12th goal of the campaign, as many as he netted in all of last season.
Chelsea’s scoreline in Sunday’s early match was reflected later at Old Trafford and St. Mary’s with Manchester United and Southampton seeing off Tottenham Hotspur and Middlesbrough respectively by the same margin.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan opened his league account for Jose Mourinho’s United, days after scoring his first for the club in the Europa League, with a sizzling first half strike.
The Armenian midfielder’s afternoon ended painfully, however, when he was taken off on a stretcher with 10 minutes remaining after a heavy tackle left him clutching his ankle.
Southampton recovered from the disappointment of its midweek Europa League elimination to return to winning ways.
Its goal came in the 53rd minute when Sofiane Boufal picked the ball up from James Ward-Prowse and unleashed an unstoppable left-foot shot to claim his first league goal.
Meanwhile, Liverpool took the lead against West Ham United but then had to come from behind in another game of thrills and spills for Juergen Klopp’s unpredictable side which was held to a 2-2 home draw.
Liverpool, six points adrift of leaders Chelsea, managed one goal in four games with West Ham last season but took just five minutes to score at Anfield when Adam Lallana turned cleverly to meet Sadio Mane’s cross and shoot low into the net.
However, West Ham got back on level terms when Frenchman Dimitri Payet fired a 20-meter free kick past goalkeeper Loris Karius who, as at Bournemouth in last week’s 4-3 defeat, should have done better after getting a hand to the ball.
Another Liverpool mistake led to West Ham’s second goal when Joel Matip, supposed to be the calming influence in defense, failed to clear a ball that looped over his head and fell for Michail Antonio, who slotted past the stranded Karius.
Third-placed Liverpool, though, did not have a trademark on mistakes and three minutes into the second half West Ham keeper Darren Randolph flapped at another Mane cross, leaving Divock Origi a simple job to bag his fourth goal in as many games.
Anfield expected another goal to come although, given Liverpool’s current mood, no one could be sure at which end. Time and again intricate passes took Liverpool into the visitors’ area before each move broke down as West Ham threw enough bodies in the way to hang on for the point.