Costa the saviour as Chelsea back on top

Scores only goal against West Brom to send Blues three points clear of second-placed Arsenal

LONDON: Diego Costa fired Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League as the Spain striker's late winner clinched a hard-fought 1-0 victory against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

Antonio Conte's side had been knocked out of first place by Arsenal on Saturday, but they reopened a three point lead over the Gunners thanks to Costa's superb finish in the closing stages at Stamford Bridge.

Costa's 12th league goal in his last 15 appearances gave Chelsea a ninth successive league win for the first time since 2007.

The west Londoners have scored 23 goals and conceded just two in that blistering streak, raising hopes of a Premier League title in Conte's first season in charge.



While this was far from Chelsea's best effort under the Italian, their refusal to be denied by a stubborn opponent suggests they have the required character and class to last the pace in the title race.

'What are tackles?' asks Guardiola

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola shrugged off his team's woeful defending in a 4-2 defeat at Leicester, insisting that tackling opposing players was not high on his list of priorities.



Premier League champions Leicester claimed victory at the King Power Stadium with Jamie Vardy ending his 16-match club goal drought with a hat-trick.

Leicester were 2-0 up after just five minutes and 3-0 ahead by the interval.

In a snapshot of City's problems, Vardy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes left after latching onto John Stones' poor back-pass.



Guardiola, though, promised only minor tweaks despite statistics revealing his side failed to win a tackle in the opening 35 minutes.

"I am not a coach for the tackles. I don't train for tackles. What I want is to try to play well and score goals. What are tackles?" said the City boss. "You have to win the duels, that is true. But normally when you play well you win tackles but after four minutes, at 2-0, the mind of the players is 'what is going on? What happened?' It is another aspect of football but in the end we are not going to win or lose because of the tackles."

City have won just four of their last 15 games in all competitions — having won Guardiola's first 10 in charge.

Aleksandar Kolarov and Nolito netted in the final 10 minutes on Saturday to put a gloss on the scoreline for City.

However, they are now four points behind leaders Arsenal in the title race and seven points off leaders Chelsea.



Don't let standards slip, Wenger warns Arsenal

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal must maintain the standards they set in beating Stoke if they are to last the course in the Premier League title race.

Wenger's side recovered after falling behind to claim a 3-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

And the manner in which Arsenal held their nerve to secure the two-goal victory needed to go above previous leaders Chelsea confirmed to Wenger that his team are growing increasingly resilient.

"We finished second in the league last year but I believe we have improved," said Wenger. "We have to show that on a longer term. I believe that we have created confidence.”

With little to separate the title contenders so far, Wenger is intrigued to see if Arsenal can make the most of their impressive form and win the Premier League for the first time since 2004.

"At the minute there is no difference anyway with the other teams, but we are in there at the top. No matter what the results will be. So that's good - we are in the fight," said Wenger.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2016.

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