Diego Costa’s scoring return shows Chelsea’s ‘great unity’, says Antonio Conte

[Devolz]

 

Antonio Conte seized upon Diego Costa’s goalscoring reintegration into the Chelsea team as evidence that the Premier League leaders are a side united, with his own decision to select the Spain striker wholly justified by the forward’s contribution.

Costa, omitted for the previous weekend’s victory at Leicester after complaining of back pain amid interest from Tianjin Quanjian to lure him to China, marked his 100th appearance for the London club with Chelsea’s opening goal to break Hull City’s stubborn resistance. Conte had been impressed with the 28-year-old’s contribution in training over the week and offered him an immediate return to the fold, to be rewarded with Costa’s 15th goal of a productive campaign just before the break.

“It was important Diego played a good game, and I hope with this game to finish the speculation about him, about me and him, about Chelsea,” said the Italian, who would not be drawn on Costa’s future beyond the summer. “We showed that we are a team with a great unity, and I think this is the real value that helps us stay top of the table.

“You must tell me if I did well to put Diego in the starting XI. If I remember well, I said on Friday that I have to make the best decision for the team. If Diego wasn’t ready to play today or my choice was bad, the fault was mine. Not the player’s. But I think Diego played a really good game with a good attitude.”

Costa is contracted until 2019 with attempts to secure him to new terms at the club shelved for now, with Chelsea braced for further interest to emerge in prising him away at the end of the season. “But I think Diego’s contract puts to an end all the speculation,” said Conte. “I repeat: he’s very happy to stay with us and to play with Chelsea. For us, now, it’s very important for us to concentrate on the present and not try and see too far into the future. A new contract? I don’t know. This decision is something you have to take together with the club. But, I repeat, I don’t see any problem with Diego and his contract.”
A 15th win in 16 league games extended Chelsea’s lead at the top to eight points, now from Arsenal, though Conte remains wary of the team’s status as favourites to reclaim the title.

“In my experience, in my career as a footballer, I once won and once lost a title when we had a seven-point lead four games from the end of the season,” he added. “We have eight point lead with 16 games to play, so we need to know this league will be very tough until the end. But to win this type of game and exploit the situation with the other teams dropping points was very important. This weekend told us that games like this are very difficult.”

The Hull City manager, Marco Silva, departed south-west London anxiou``s over the health of his midfielder Ryan Mason after the early, sickening clash of heads with Gary Cahill which left the former Tottenham Hotspur player in the acute trauma centre at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington with a fractured skull. Mason’s condition was understandably occupying the Portuguese’s mind rather than his side’s impressive performance before Thursday’s League Cup semi-final second leg with Manchester United.