Diego Costa needs to step up to his early-season form for Chelsea’s run-in

Despite his recent form, Diego Costa is – for all purposes – Chelsea’s only striker. The club needs him to rediscover his form on offense and discipline to see out the season.

During the first half of the season, Diego Costa was a viable contender for Chelsea’s player of the season. Costa scored 14 league goals alongside many match-winning performances.

Perhaps more importantly, he was less interested in non-football aspects during that time. He stayed out of the box for 10 straight matches. Costa was not even reacting angrily to opposition player’s challenges. He was nearly the perfect striker Chelsea needed..

Since then, his goal-scoring form has abandoned him. To be precise, he dropped off his productive streak after Chelsea manager Antonio Conte dropped him from the lineup after their training ground row. He has just three goals over his last 11 matches, and is rightly not among the PFA Player of the Year candidates.

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Costa has hit new lows in his past five matches. He is in his longest drought without a goal. And the old grumpy Costa is back, evident from his three yellow cards in those five games.

Apart from the Manchester United tie last Sunday his link-up play and hold-up play are decent enough in the last 11 matches. But his primary job is to score goals. This shifts the pressure to Eden Hazard to do everything by himself.

Unsurprisingly, Antonio Conte has backed Costa despite his drought.

"It can happen. For me, the most important thing is he is showing me great commitment and behaviour during the games, and is doing what I want. – Goal.com"

Antonio Conte knows Diego Costa’s importance to this team when he is at his best. Conte attributes a lot to Costa’s presence even when he is not scoring. Costa can intimidate opposition team unlike anyone, and has single-handedly turned matches in favor of Chelsea. The tie against West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge in December 2016 is an example of what Costa can do, and what Conte is hoping for in the final run-in.

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Antonio Conte does not fancy Michy Batshuayi much at all. Conte leave Batshuayi out of the starting lineup even when Costa is unavailable. Most managers would have dropped most strikers on Costa’s form by now. If Conte is that set against Batshuayi, he can still use Eden Hazard as a false nine. Instead, Conte continues to trust Costa to lead Chelsea’s line.