Diego Costa had gone five games without a goal before Tuesday night\u2019s match
\nLondon
\nIf Antonio Conte\u2019s aim was to get some sort of reaction out of Diego Costa when he decided to drop him for the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, then it worked spectacularly.
\nCosta\u2019s head appeared already in China, with his form having fallen spectacularly since that offer in January from the Far East. He had stopped scoring and was going AWOL in games.
\nThen on Tuesday, just in time for the Premier League title run-in, Costa came back with a bang.
\nTottenham will travel to Crystal Palace on Wednesday understandably feeling frustrated. Their players will have had the option of watching Chelsea on TV and some will have chosen to do so.
\nThey will have seen Costa forget about his recent form to terrorise Southampton at Stamford Bridge, including scoring arguably his greatest goal this season.
\nHis first was simple \u2013 a cross, a header, done, dusted.
\nHis second was sublime \u2013 a one-two with Eden Hazard, then another with Pedro, then a fine finish.
\nHe also assisted Hazard for Chelsea\u2019s opener and almost scored an overhead kick, only for Gary Cahill to take it off him. Cahill\u2019s header went in, thankfully, so he\u2019ll forgive his team-mate for that.
\nCosta\u2019s brace turned what would have been a 2-2 draw into a 4-2 win \u2013 or one point into three. He has had a habit of that this season.
\nOf all the Premier League\u2019s players this season, no-one has had as big an impact as Costa in terms of turning draws into wins.
\nHis goals have contributed 15 points \u2013 without that, Chelsea would be fifth in the Premier League, level with Manchester United. Of course, 11 of of those 15 came before the Chinese offer in January.
\nAgainst Southampton, though, Costa showed he can still turn it on.
\nIt\u2019s in the nick of time, too, with five games to go in the Premier League.
\nDepending on whether Tottenham win or lose at Selhurst Park, the title could be Chelsea\u2019s by mid-May.
\nThen a sixth game awaits \u2013 against Arsenal at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup final. The double is on, and Chelsea\u2019s boss thinks he has his striker back.
\nConte\u2019s decision to drop Hazard for the FA Cup semi-final was met with more surprise than Costa, because it was no secret that the striker had been struggling.
\nChinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian are still interested in the 28-year-old, and want to pay Costa a staggering \u00a3620,000 a week and Chelsea a substantial fee to sign him this summer.
\nSo the question marks over his future are still there, though Conte hopes they are put to the back of his mind while Chelsea try to turn into champions.
\nCosta\u2019s two goals on Tuesday suggest it will. It took his tally in the top flight to 19 for this season and the Spain international is now only one off his greatest total for Chelsea (20 in 2014-15).
\n\u2018For strikers it\u2019s very important to score because the goal is your life,\u2019 Conte said on Tuesday. \u2018I always said I was very pleased with his commitment and work for the team.
\n\u2018Sometimes he was lacking in different circumstances but I was always confident about him.
\n\u2018If you remember, in the Tottenham press conference I said he was saving his goals for the final part of the season. It\u2019s important for his confidence and for us.\u2019
\nConte was confident Costa was saving his strikes for the business end of the season and Chelsea\u2019s supporters are hoping the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Diego Costa had gone five games without a goal before Tuesday night\u2019s match London If Antonio Conte\u2019s aim was to get some sort of reaction out of Diego Costa when he decided to drop him for the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, then it worked spectacularly. Costa\u2019s head appeared already in China, with his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n