COUNTING THE COSTA
PREMIER LEAGUE Pardew pinpoints cause of Blues woes
ALAN PARDEW says Chelsea are still reeling from the loss of star striker Diego Costa.
West Brom boss Pardew bids to pile more misery on under-pressure Antonio Conte tonight and says he does feel sympathy.
It is less than a year since the Italian steered Chelsea to the title – now he is favourite to get the chop.
Pardew says the major difference between then and now is the fact that Costa was flogged back to Atletico Madrid for £57m.
The true Costa of that remains to be seen but Pardew is delighted he is not facing the snarling Spaniard.
Outstanding
Pardew said: “I think Conte will come through this. Chelsea can be a difficult club at times. I do feel sorry for him because the job he did last year was absolutely outstanding and I don’t really think he’s changed too much.
“Maybe the quality of the opposition has changed and maybe the players he’s had available haven’t been to the consistency he had when he won it.
“But you cannot fault his record and the job he’s done since he came to the Premier League.”
It is the loss of Costa’s cutting edge up front which is really hurting Chelsea right now, according to Pardew.
He added: “He’s been a big miss because he’s a big character on the pitch and he can change the destiny of games, not so much with his ® ability sometimes but with his character. When you’ve got one of those at the top of the pitch, they’re very difficult to replace. “Chelsea had great momentum last season and they played a system that everybody was trying to deal with. “We’ve all had extra time as managers to work out how to stop them, so there’s been a little bit of that as well.” The Baggies boss is boosted by the return of key trio Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jonny Evans and Kieran Gibbs as he tries to make sure there’s no hangover from the damaging 3-2 home defeat to Southampton. Pardew added: “We need to put some points on the board. Having those three back strengthens my hand and will give the other players a boost. “At some point we need to win three games out of four. I do think we’re capable of that, particularly with the signing of Daniel Sturridge.”