Diego Costa’s goal drought should be little cause for concern at Chelsea

Diego Costa is the Premier League’s third-leading scorer despite being on a three-game goal drought. The Spanish striker frequently has such spells, even during banner seasons.

Diego Costa is on-pace for his highest goal-scoring tally since arriving at Chelsea. He has 15 goals so far, needing only six more in the remaining 13 games to beat his mark from the title-winning 2014/15 season. Costa only played in 26 games that year due to injury, and so far has been remarkably injury-free.

After a hot first half of the season, Costa has only one goal in 2017. His training ground row with Antonio Conte, the rumours of a massive offer from China and his blocked penalty kick against Liverpool are all likely contributing to his recent drought. He scored against Hull City on 22 January, which he celebrated by mocking the transfer chatter.

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Diego Costa’s shooting shows a lack of confidence and aggression. Costa has put only one shot on target since the match against Hull City. In that span he has put only one shot on target. That shot was his penalty kick that Simon Mignolet saved at Anfield.

Costa’s performance against Burnley showed his frustration with his offensive dip. He exhibited the tell-tale sign of a striker who his off his game: he would not take one-touch shots. Several times in the match he received the ball at the top of Burnley’s box and tried to maneuver into a perfect shooting position.

Burnley played two tight lines of defenders at the top of the box. They outmuscled Costa simply by out-manning him. This precluded him from his usual hold-up play and fighting off the defender to open a shooting lane. Costa tried to dodge and weave his way through Burnley’s lines but, without any of Eden Hazard’s explosiveness or guile, he usually gave the ball away via a tackle or a block.

Diego Costa had three separate spans of three goalless Premier League games last season. During the 2014/15 season, three times he went back-to-back league games without scoring. In his final and best year at Atletico Madrid, Costa had four consecutive La Liga games without a goal and still finished with 27 tallies.

Antonio Conte understands and gets through to Diego Costa like few others. Conte surely knows what Costa is going through, and what he needs to break out of his slump.

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Swansea City offers an inviting target for a slumping striker, having conceded a Premier League-leading 54 goals this season. Cesc Fabregas would surely relish the chance to start in the Premier League with the mandate to keep Costa well-served against the resurgent but still struggling Swans.