Diego Costa Returns to Inspire Chelsea to Victory Over Hull City

Diego Costa scored on his return to the Chelsea team as they beat Hull City to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.

The Spain striker missed last weekend's 3-0 win over champions Leicester, citing a back injury after a disagreement with a fitness coach, amid reports of Chinese Super League interest.

But the Blues' top scorer - cheered throughout the game by home fans - returned against struggling Hull and had an early impact, sending an effort from 20 yards fizzing just wide after only 10 seconds.

He got the opening goal when he converted Victor Moses' low cross from eight yards out in the seventh minute of first-half injury time.

The long stoppage was a result of an injury to Hull midfielder Ryan Mason, who went to hospital after being carried off on a stretcher wearing an oxygen mask following a clash of heads with Chelsea defender Gary Cahill. 

The Tigers played well but lacked cutting edge without the injured Robert Snodgrass and Cahill sealed the win when he headed home Cesc Fabregas' free-kick.

Last weekend, Chelsea's position at the top of the Premier League was looking far from secure. The Blues were five points clear after their long winning run was ended by Tottenham and Costa's future at the club seemed in severe doubt.

Fast forward eight days and the Blues - with Costa back in the first team - are now eight points above second-placed Arsenal, the only other team in the top six to win this weekend.

Antonio Conte's side were far from spectacular against the Tigers. In fact, Costa - with six shots - was the only Chelsea player to have more than one effort.

But a 15th win in their past 16 league games - and a 13th Premier League clean sheet of the season - takes them one game closer to a sixth English top-flight title.

The omens look good for Chelsea. No team have ever failed to win the Premier League title after picking up 55 points or more in their opening 22 games.

Hull City have shown signs of improvement after sacking manager Mike Phelan and replacing him with Marco Silva. After beating Bournemouth in his opening Premier League game, they gave Chelsea a real match for large periods.

Whether they stay up - they are two points adrift of safety - might rely on Silva's transfer actions in the next nine days.

They left out West Ham target Robert Snodgrass, who has scored or assisted 50% of their league goals this season - and Silva said just before the game it was "impossible for him to stay".

Despite a good performance, they lacked incision without the Scotland international. A majority of their nine shots came from distance, with centre-back Harry Maguire having four efforts.

At 1-0, they could have had a penalty when Marcos Alonso kicked the back of Abel Hernandez's foot, but nothing was awarded.

Three of Silva's signings, Omar Elabdellaoui, Evandro and Oumar Niasse, played but the Portuguese wants more new faces - and he needs them after selling midfielder Jake Livermore to West Brom for £10m and the loss of Mason to injury.

However, whether anyone can make up for the apparently imminent loss of Snodgrass - their only player to score more than three Premier League goals this season - remains to be seen.

Leicester City Vs Chelsea Line ups

Chelsea coach Antonio Conte made a single change to the lineup that lost to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart lane last week to face Leicester City at King Power Stadium, with Diego Costa dropped. 
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The line up have Thiabut Courtois in Goal, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill in defence with Victor Moses, Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas Marcos Alonso in midfield and William, Pedro and Eden Hazard in attack.

Antonio Conte's Chelsea side, lost their Premier League record of fourteen (13) straight wins in a single season, last week and he is determined to see his side return to win this fixture. Conte is maintaining his 3 5 3 formation for this game.

Moreover, Leicester City head coach Claudio Ranieri has thrown his new signing Ndidi Anyanwu into this fixture, as he named a strong starting XI with one change from the strating XI that won Everton at mid week.

Ahmed Musa starts this game with Kasper Schimeichel in goal, Danny Simpson, Wes Morgan, Robert Huth and Ben Chilwel in defence. In midfield, Marc Albrighton, Nampalys Mendy, Onyinye Ndidi, Danny Drinkwater and Ahmed Musa with Jamie Vardy as the lone striker.
Claudio Renieri would be playing 4 5 1 formation in this game with more midfield players in, for this game.
Let us wait till kick off to know what the game holds.

The centre referee  for this match is Andre Marriner.

 More of the actions from King Power Stadium to follow.

Mikel Joins Chinese Super League side Tianjin TEDA

Midfielder John Mikel Obi has left Chelsea to join Chinese Super League side Tianjin TEDA.

The 29-year-old Nigerian has played 372 times for Chelsea since joining in 2006 but has not featured this season.

He said it had been "an honour" to play for the Stamford Bridge club but it was time to "seek a new challenge".

Mikel has won two Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the 2012 Champions League during his time at Stamford Bridge.

"I haven't featured as much this season as I would have liked and I still have many years in the game ahead of me," Mikel wrote on Twitter in a message to Chelsea fans.

"With this in mind, I feel now is the time to seek a new challenge.

"I'm delighted to be joining Tianjin TEDA FC at a time that the Chinese Super League is really taking off, and I look forward to helping Tianjin TEDA FC continue to grow.

"To play in the Premier League is every professional player's ambition.

"But to play for Chelsea, to become part of the Chelsea family to work with some of the best managers and players in the world, has truly been an honour.

Mikel is the second Chelsea player to move to the Chinese Super League in recent weeks following Oscar's transfer to Shanghai SIPG.

Leicester City Vs Chelsea Match Report

Marcos Alonso scored twice as Chelsea beat Leicester to move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League, despite Diego Costa's absence.

Marco Alonso and Pedro score the Chelsea goals as they maintained seven points lead at the top of the EPL table with Diego Costa absent from this game.

The Blues were without their top scorer after a training ground dispute over his fitness, amid reports he has been offered a lucrative move to China.

That saga did not affect them at the King Power Stadium, however, with Eden Hazard setting up Alonso to fire home after only six minutes.

The Spanish wing-back added his second early in the second half when his shot from the edge of the area was deflected in.

Ahmed Musa had tested Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois before his side fell behind, but the defending champions did not manage another shot on target.

Before kick-off, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte had played down any row involving Costa, claiming he was not in his squad because of a back injury.

Whatever the truth behind Costa's absence, the Blues showed again that they can win without the Spain striker, who has scored 14 goals and provided five assists for them this season.

Chelsea initially had to work harder for the points than they did when Costa was suspended in their 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on 26 December - the only other league game he has missed in 2016-17.

Again they used Hazard to lead the line rather than turn to £33m summer signing Michy Batshuayi, who was left on the bench and still awaits his first league start.

Alonso, rather than Hazard, will get the headlines on this occasion, but Chelsea's dominant performance was further evidence it will be hard to dislodge them from top spot.

This was Chelsea's 12th clean sheet in 21 games and, even without Costa's belligerent presence up front, they remain difficult to break down and dangerous when they come forward.

Conte's side had seen their 13-game winning streak ended by Tottenham in their previous Premier League game, but that remains their only defeat since the end of September.

Pedro made sure of the points with a deft header from Willian's cross. Leicester City on a new-look 3-5-2 formation, struggled to find a way back into the game.

Foxes manager Claudio Ranieri, named Fifa's coach of the year this week, attempted to match Chelsea's formation by playing with wing-backs of his own - but his experiment did not pay off.

Albrighton and Ben Chilwell failed to make the same impact as their opposite numbers, Alonso and Victor Moses, and the Foxes struggled to create chances.

England striker Jamie Vardy was back from suspension to lead their attack, but he made little impression apart from playing one dangerous cross and did not manage a single shot.

Leicester are still six points above the relegation zone despite this defeat but, with Riyad Mahrez, Islam Slimani and Daniel Amarty away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Ranieri must find a better blend with the players still at his disposal.

Pedro Scores Brace as Chelsea Make it Twelve Wins

The Christmas celebrations continued on at Stamford Bridge with a relatively comfortable victory over the south-coast side, with the Blues in control and on top for most of the afternoon with the lead taken midway through the first half.

Thibaut Courtois had to play his part in this win, but with Hazard and Pedro especially lively, more goals were always on the cards and they came early in the second half from the penalty spot and in added time when Pedro grabbed his second of the day and fifth of the season.

Presented with the challenge of replacing suspended topscorer Diego Costa for this match, Conte opted to shuffle his regular attacking players rather than give a full Premier League debut to Michy Batshuayi, so Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro formed the front three. Cesc Fabregas came in for N’Golo Kante who was also serving a one-match ban. 

One of those entrusted to take the attack to Bournemouth, who themselves lined up with three at the back having been forced into a change there due to Nathan Ake’s ineligibility, almost got on to the end of a long ball from Azpilicueta but Pedro did not quite have the reach to bring it down and a corner won was the best he could achieve.

It was, in truth, an unremarkable opening 15 minutes to this Boxing Day game. A booking for the Cherries’ on-loan man from Arsenal, Jack Wilshere, for an arm-up challenge on Hazard was the only other incident in that spell.

Not long after that it needed Cesar Azpilicueta at his diligent best to cut out Bournemouth’s best attack yet.

Chelsea then began to make things happen. Hazard found Moses’s overlapping run with a well-judged ball and the Blues were unlucky not to win a corner, and then David Luiz’s anticipation started an attack which ended with Pedro rifling a shot across the face of goal. The man from Tenerife did not have to wait long to hit the target.

The Blues’ passing game clicked and unsurprisingly it was Fabregas who played a clever and crucial pass through a crowd to Pedro, whose finish was sublime. Turning onto his left foot, he clipped the ball perfectly to clear Artur Boruc but dip under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead. 

The goal came midway through the half but we needed Thibaut Courtois to save smartly from Wilshere soon after to preserve the lead.

The same Bournemouth player then fired on target after Matic’s soft clearance from a free-kick fell to him, but thankfully an outstretched Chelsea boot prevented another test for Courtois.

With 10 minutes to go to half-time, Hazard was dumped to the turf just outside the Bournemouth area. Willian and David Luiz stood aside for Fabregas but he chipped the free-kick onto the roof of the net.

A free-kick at the other end was the big talking point just before half-time. Not for the first time a Wilshere run caused problems but Gary Cahill and his colleagues were very upset when the defender’s tackle was ruled a foul. Thankfully Bournemouth’s attempt at goal only succeeded in bouncing off the middle of the Chelsea wall.

The league leaders had a half-time lead and were doing well in pressing and disrupting the visitors play for long spells, but we could do with more creativity ourselves to be totally confident another three points was coming our way.

Conte’s men started the second half sharply and within three minutes were given a big help towards our win by Bournemouth skipper Simon Francis. His clumsy attempt to challenge Hazard in the area was instantly whistled as a penalty and he had no argument.

 Hazard stroked the ball low into the net with Boruc wrong-footed. It was 2-0 with 49 minutes played. 

It was all Chelsea now. Hazard cut inside from the left but misdirected his shot, and Willian twice struck the ball at Boruc from the right. Moses hit a bouncing ball only just wide with an hour almost up.

Pedro picked up a yellow card that means he will be banned for the Stoke game, and he further demonstrated we will be without an in-form player for that New Year’s Eve game with a thrilling run and shot just wide.  

He and Hazard threatened more goals on the break although there was a warning the job was not yet done when substitute Benik Afobe got behind our defence and forced Courtois into a good save.

The Blues kept the ball and probed away for the remainder of the game and were rewarded with goal number three and our best winning margin since Everton were beaten here 5-0 at the start of November. Pedro, on the break once again, shot low from distance with his right this time and fortune was with him as it took a touch off a Bournemouth player to give Boruc no chance.

Azpilicueta Signs New Chelsea Deal

Azpilicueta has signed a new deal with Chelsea football club and the club was delighted to announce the deal.

Since arrival in 2012, no player has impressed more so than Spanish defender Cesar Azpilicueta.

The talented defender has proven himself as a jack-of-all-trades, having played at right-back, left-back and centre-back since his arrival – and impressing in equal measure in each role.

Now, he has been rewarded for his fine form – with Chelsea confirming on their official websitethat the defender has signed a new long-term deal with the club.

The 3-and-a-half year deal will see Azpilicueta remain at the club until 2020 – which has absolutely delighted the Chelsea fans in attendance.

Discussing the deal, Azpi said: “This new contract gives me the chance to continue my relationship with the club, that’s what I wanted and obviously I’m really happy here”

Good news all round, then.

Our landlord thinks that this deal is a masterstroke by Chelsea. Azpilicueta rarely gets the headlines, but he is always stellar – and he will continue to be the main man in the defence for years to come.