Returning Costa gives Chelsea breathing space
DIEGO Costa marked his comeback with a goal as Chelsea overcame an obdurate Hull City side 2-0 last night to surge eight points clear at the Premier League summit.
Costa missed Chelsea’s 3-0 win at Leicester City last weekend due to a back problem, amid reports he had rowed with a fitness coach after being unsettled by a big-money offer from China.
But after returning to the starting XI, his 15th goal of the campaign set Antonio Conte’s side en route to an eighth straight home league win, which was rubber-stamped by Gary Cahill’s late header.
With Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United all dropping points and Costa back in the fold, Conte was left to reflect on something approaching a perfect weekend.
The Costa furore, and a recent 2-0 defeat at Tottenham, had threatened to rob Chelsea of their momentum, but they will go into back-to-back games against Liverpool and Arsenal with belief restored.
Meanwhile, 10-man Arsenal went second in the Premier League with a stunning 2-1 win over Burnley at the Emirates Stadium that saw both sides score penalties in stoppagetime.
Arsenal were 1-0 up courtesy of Shkodran Mustafi’s first goal for the club when, in the third of seven minutes of time added on by referee Jon Moss, Burnley’s Ashley Barnes was fouled inside the area by Francis Coquelin.
Andre Gray, a childhood Arsenal fan, slammed the spot-kick down the middle, with Petr Cech unable to prevent the equaliser despite getting a hand to the ball.
But that was not the end of the drama.
When Arsenal pumped the ball into the box with virtually the last attack of the game, Laurent Koscielny was caught by a high foot from Ben Mee as he attempted to head in.
Moss, amid suggestions Koscielny was marginally offside, again pointed to the spot and Alexis Sanchez, showing remarkable cool in the circumstances, chipped rather than fired a penalty down the middle.
Earlier, Southampton marked their first match since former captain Jose Fonte’s £8-million (R135-million) move to West Ham on Friday by ending a run of four straight league defeats with a 3-0 win at home to struggling champions Leicester.
The Saints were 2-0 up before the break at St Mary’s thanks to goals from James Ward-Prowse and Jay Rodriguez before Dusan Tadic’s penalty four minutes from time completed a comfortable win.