Diego Costa: Chelsea's costly error

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

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.