Diego Costa: Chelsea's costly error

A master of the dark arts; this was the term Mark Hughes used to describe Diego Costa in 2017, accusing the latter of being overtly physical and going down very easily under challenges at the same time.

A controversial personality, to say the least, Diego Costa was indeed feisty in his time with Chelsea, racking up 10 yellow cards in the 2016-17 season along with his 20 goals and 7 assists.

Yet, a falling out with Conte meant Costa was not part of Chelsea's Premier League story for the 2017-18 season and was promptly shipped off to Atletico Madrid. January 2018 saw him make his second debut with the club.

Alvaro Morata's arrival

Alvaro Morata arrived from Real Madrid for £58m last summer and from what we've seen so far, he hasn't really settled at Stamford Bridge. Along with Lukaku and Lacazette, Morata has sometimes failed to show up on the big occasions and has exhibited instances of poor finishing as well.

He may be excellent in the air, but he not as robust or physical as Costa. He fared fairly well at Real Madrid but seems like a square peg in a round hole at Chelsea.

While Chelsea have not stooped to miserable lows, they are nowhere near the clinical and cruel side they were in Conte's first season with a mere 3 draws and 5 losses to end the campaign as Champions. They had a penchant for late goals and most of them came from Diego Costa himself.

In his 20 Premier League goals last season, 6 were after the 80th-minute mark. 5 of his goals were match-winners and 1 helped to convert a loss into a draw. Costa's cutting edge is something that Chelsea have lacked this season while playing out stalemates. In the following slides, we look back at some of Costa's game-changing goals.

#1 August 15th, 2016, Chelsea 2 - 1 West Ham

Collins was not fast enough in closing Costa down.

In the very first match of the season, Costa, amidst a fair share of controversy, scored the winning goal in the 89th minute to secure 3 points for Chelsea. He was lucky to be on the pitch at the time.

Though it appeared that the spoils were about to be shared, Costa shrugged off Collins to receive Batshuayi's cushioned header.

The defenders backed off for a second too many and Costa proceeded to hit a shot that went on to nestle in the bottom-right corner of the net beyond the reach of the keeper. This ensured that Chelsea stared the season with a win.

#2 August 20th, 2016, Watford 1 - 2 Chelsea

Gomes could not get down in time to parry Costa's winner. — Gomes could not get down in time to parry Costa's winner

The story of this match was not too dissimilar to the last one. This time, Watford were leading and Batshuayi equalised in the 80th-minute mark to keep Chelsea in the game and in the 87th minute, Diego Costa was played through on goal with a ball over the top by Cesc Fabregas.

Though he had work to do, Costa galloped towards goal and slotted the ball past Gomes, the Watford keeper, who was perhaps anticipating a shot towards his near post. Costa's composure meant he had scored two late goals in the space of just 5 days to secure another win for Chelsea.

#3 September 11th, 2016, Swansea 2 - 2 Chelsea

Costa's amazing bicycle kick was as brilliant as it was important to Chelsea. — Costa's amazing bicycle kick was as brilliant as it was important to Chelsea

Costa was at it again, but this time it was not a winning goal, but a point salvaging goal. After conceding a lead, Chelsea frantically searched for an equaliser and it came via the Spaniard in the 81st minute, who, with commendable agility for a man of his strength and size, acrobatically scored from a poorly dealt cross by Swansea and Chelsea came away with a point to prolong Conte's unbeaten start to the season.

#4 November 20th, 2016, Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Chelsea

Costa took advantage of the deflection and was first to reach the ball and slot it home.

This was Chelsea's sixth game since their 3-0 drubbing to Arsenal. After that, Conte had reverted to the back three he had used so frequently at Juventus and the team were doing very well, keeping clean sheets in their previous five games. Chelsea were expected to win comfortably on the day but that was not the case as they came away with only a 0-1 win owing to a solid defence and a solitary Costa strike in the 41st minute.

Victor Moses' cross ricocheted off Calum Chambers' back and amongst Costa and the 3 or 4 Middlesbrough defenders, the forward was the first to react, volleying the ball in with his left foot from inside the 6-yard box. It proved to be the winning goal of the game and it was just an instance of how Championship winning teams; even when not at their best, pick up 3 points most of the time through sheer grit.

#5 December 11th, 2016, Chelsea 1 - 0 West Brom

The extremely difficult angle did not stop Costa from scoring. — The extremely difficult angle did not stop Costa from scoring

This was an exceptionally frustrating match for Antonio Conte's men as Tony Pulis set out a well-oiled defensive machine which was successful for large parts in containing Chelsea. Chelsea had just 2 shots on target for the duration of the whole game but fortunately for them, one of them ended up in the back of the net in the 76th minute thanks to Diego Costa.

Fabregas played a rather hopeful pass towards the right touchline and McAuley made a slight error and let Diego Costa overpower him. Costa then rampaged towards goal and with an acute angle to aim at, side-footed the ball with his swinger to slot the ball in the top corner; all the while under pressure and slightly off balance.

This dominant display of strength helped Chelsea grind out a win and in hindsight, it shows that while teams aspiring to lift trophies must strive to play beautiful football; when things are not exactly clicking, they must be able to carve out narrow wins as well.

#6 December 16th, 2016, Chelsea 0 - 1 Crystal Palace

Scott Dann was nowhere near Costa who timed his jump perfectly.

In a game where Palace had a slightly greater share of possession, Chelsea had more attempts on goal. But the game was decided in the 43rd minute when a cross came in from the right side and Costa leapt above Scott Dann and headed it into the net.

It was an archetypal goal for a centre-forward and it is the kind Morata seems to specialise in, having combined with Azpilicueta to hit many spectacular headers. Nevertheless, heading also seems to be a skill Diego Costa had in the bag.

#7 December 3rd, 2016, Manchester City 1 - 3 Chelsea

Costa was able to brush aside Otamendi for the goal

This was one of the most important fixtures for Chelsea and a difficult game was expected to take place at the Etihad Stadium and while City did claim the lead, Chelsea hit back with courtesy of some brilliant combination play between Fabregas and Costa.

Fabregas picked up the ball from the halfway line and played the ball over to Costa, who brilliantly controlled the ball with his chest and fended off Otamendi's tackle with his upper body strength and slotted the ball past Claudio Bravo.

This particular goal was a perfect example of Costa at his best; showcasing his best abilities - the ability to make a good run, good ball control, brute strength to hold the ball and the awareness and composure to finish from tight spaces.