Swansea vs Chelsea: Diego Costa double not enough to maintain Antonio Conte's perfect Premier League start
Swansea 2-2 Chelsea: Sigurdsson and Fer scored two quick goals to give the Swans the lead
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Diego Costa showed why they love to hate him in Swansea as Chelsea surrendered their 100 per cent Premier League record in a humdinger of a contest at the Liberty Stadium.
The Chelsea striker, who has been likened to a spaghetti western villain since he arrived in England, played the role of baddie to perfection after his defensive colleagues slipped up, costing their club a chance to join Manchester City at the summit of the Premier League.
The former Atletico Madrid striker, jeered throughout by Swansea fans, showed his enduring worth to Chelsea whose perfect start to life under Antonio Conte came to an end following calamitous errors of judgment by Thibault Courtois and Gary Cahill.
Costa came to the rescue with a brilliant overhead kick late on after the sort of defensive lapses by Courtois and Cahill which are anathema to Conte who prides himself on his defensive work as a manager with Juventus and Italy.
Indeed, it was the sort of mistake for Swansea’s second goal by Cahill which would normally be associated with David Luiz who had to be content with a place on the bench as his second stint at Chelsea began in earnest following his £32-million move from Paris St Germain.
His fellow deadline day signing Marcos Alonso was sat alongside the Brazilian as Conte opted to keep faith with the team that beat Burnley so convincingly at Stamford Bridge.
His charges were clearly aiming to start off where they finished in that 3-0 defeat and Willian tested Lukasz Fabianski with a powerful rising shot that the goalkeeper punched away early on.
Swansea were afforded plenty of time and space to show off their passing game but lacked punch as striker Fernando Llorente struggled to work his way into the contest.
Costa showed the Welsh side how it should be done when he put Chelsea ahead in the 18th minute.
Federico Fernandez’s weak attempt at a headed clearance following Branislav Ivanovic’s cross fell to Oscar who teed up Costa who slotted the ball past Fabianski from the edge of the penalty area.
It was his sixth goal in Chelsea colours against Swansea whose defence have proved more generous to the striker than any other Premier League club.
Swansea went to pieces and Eden Hazard should have doubled the lead two minutes later when he burst through but shot straight at Fabianski.
The former Arsenal goalkeeper came to his side’s rescue again as Chelsea dominated, pulling off another smart save to deny Cesar Azpilicueta after the left-back tried his luck from the by-line.
The game was increasingly one-sided but Gylfi Sigurdsson had the locals jumping out of their Liberty Stadium seats when he sent a curling 22-yard shot flashing just wide of Courtois’s goal.
Back came Chelsea and Costa should have doubled the lead following Willian’s corner but miscued badly from close range – as did John Terry - much to the delight of those who cast him as a pantomime villain.
Such was their dominance that Chelsea looked well equipped to be able to overcome such wasteful finishing - until Courtois and then Cahill hit the proverbial self-destruct button.
First it was Courtois who suffered a rush of blood when he darted out to clear substitute Modou Barrow’s through-ball to Sigurdsson only to misjudge badly and bring down the Icelandic international just inside the penalty box.
Referee Andre Marriner ignored the fans who were calling for Courtois to be sent off but Sigurdsson showed no mercy at all from the penalty box as he drove the ball down to middle of the goal, beyond the Belgian’s dive in the 59th minute.
Things quickly went from bad to worse for Chelsea as three minutes later Cahill was caught in possession by Fer as he dithered over a back pass to Courtois and the tenacious midfielder raced through before squeezing the ball beneath the goalkeeper.
It left Conte scratching his head in disbelief.
Costa, the subject of harsh treatment by Swansea fans and players, then took centre-stage with his overhead kick from six yards out in the 81st minute to spare his colleagues’ blushes and only a fine save by Fabianski denied him a winner.
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