Costa’s barren run ‘not a worry’
ANTONIO CONTE has backed Diego Costa to deliver again despite a disappointing start to 2017 that has seen the striker score just three Premier League goals.
Costa caught the eye with 14 league strikes before New Year’s Day. But since then the goals have dried up but, ahead of today’s match at Bournemouth, boss Conte said: “I am not concerned about Diego. It can happen.
“For me, the most important thing is he is showing me great commitment and behaviour during the games and is doing what I want.
“He was also unlucky in a lot of circumstances. But a player like Diego Costa can score in every game and I’m sure he can do this. He has experience, character, personality.
“That’s very important for us and the team. Also, he has won in the past.
“He’s an important player if he is scoring or if he isn’t. He must continue with his commitment and then I’m sure he’ll score.
“Do I need to speak to him? No, no, no. I speak with all my players and, if I’m not happy with someone’s commitment or behaviour, then I would speak to him. But if he’s not scoring? He’s playing good football and doing what I want.”
Chelsea, who should be able to call on Victor Moses again after injury, are on a high after Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over Manchester City, a match not without incident, with friction between the two benches.
That boiled over in the tunnel after the game with Chelsea fitness coach Paolo Bertelli and Manchester City masseur Mark Sertori clashing verbally before City boss Pep Guardiola intervened.
Conte, though, says the tension did not surprise him. “I stayed in the changing room. I didn’t see what happened,” he said. “I saw, during the game, that there was one moment, a bit of confrontation, but then it finished.
“It’s normal because, when you are in this moment of the season and there are two great teams playing for the title, there are nerves – a bit of nerves from both sides. But the most important thing is to show always great respect, the winners and the losers.” Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has given his men a talking to, however, as he challenged them to produce another maximum-level display against the leaders.
The Cherries are on a fivematch unbeaten run, which has seen them pick up points at Old Trafford and Liverpool, where Josh King’s late strike, below, sealed a 2-2 draw on Wednesday. But Howe knows all that hard work can soon be undone with a trip to Spurs after today’s Chelsea match. He said: “We are feeling good and confident at the moment.
“Our home form has been very good, we have won our last two here and performed well away in the last two, against Southampton and Liverpool, which were really big points for us. We have to maximise ourselves in every game, be difficult to break down, and we have been able to do that recently, so the next two matches are going to be similar types.” After watching the manner in which his team battled back to earn a point at Anfield, Howe feels Bournemouth have again shown they have what it takes to hold their own in the top flight as they look to edge closer to safety. “It reinforces our belief we can get points against anybody, we have always believed that this season,” he said. “We do need the team to perform, every unit, at a very high level and we had that against Liverpool. “We showed the character and belief you need, because even when you are chasing games you have to believe you can score a goal at any time to get something from it, that is a really important quality to have.” Howe added: “You have to get over the line, to finish the job off and that would be the view from our perspective, we still need points. “At the start of the season it was all about getting over 42 points, which was our total from last year and that is still our aim.”
He’s important if he’s scoring or if he isn’t