Diego Costa: Chelsea's costly error

#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.