Chelsea Fan View: Not replacing Diego Costa has cost Chelsea

Chelsea eased past Crystal Palace on Saturday with little drama and a welcome win; the return of palpable discord over the last few weeks has subsided to blessed relief.

As it was, Chelsea’s inability to finish off poor opposition nearly came back to haunt them with a Palace goal unluckily chalked off for a minor infringement before Patrick Van Aanholt’s goal in the dying minutes. Chelsea’s confidence does not seem to have been restored to normal levels, evidenced by the players running down the clock by playing keep ball near Palace’s corner flag. Chelsea won 2-1 to claim all three points which at this stage of the season is all that really matters but it could very easily have been 2-2.

It could be argued that had Chelsea been able to punish poor defending by being more clinical in front of goal and capitalising on the myriad chances they created, then they and the supporters would not have been left nervously waiting for the final whistle.

Of the many issues that seem to have plagued Chelsea this season, it could well be that the inconsistency of their strikers is top of the pile.

Last season when Chelsea won the Premier League, their top goal scorer was Diego Costa with 20 goals. It is often cited that for a team to win and compete for trophies, they need a top, dare I say world class striker; a player who can guarantee you 20 plus goals every season.

Of the teams above Chelsea in the league, Man City has Sergio Aguero who has 21 goals; Romelu Lukaku of Man Utd has 14 goals with every chance of reaching at least 20 by the end of the season and Tottenham has Harry Kane who this season has scored 24 goals. The surprise of the season has been Mohammed Salah, a former Chelsea flop who has been scoring for fun for Liverpool this season having netted 24 times.

The point is that you need at least one striker who can guarantee you goals. This allows other players to chip in around them to build a sustained challenge for trophies.

The issue of Chelsea losing Diego Costa has become painfully clear this season with the failure of Alvaro Morata (his replacement) and the back-up strikers – Michy Batshuayi and now Oliver Giroud – to score enough goals. Alvaro Morata has scored 10 Premier League goals this season, but has not scored since Boxing Day against Brighton. Batshuayi, never really trusted by Antonio Conte, scored 2 Premier League goals before being shipped out on loan to Borussia Dortmund in January.

It is perhaps too early to judge Olivier Giroud but he is yet to get off the mark for Chelsea in the Premier League. He came very close against Palace having one effort cleared off the line and another shot that came back off the post.

Either way, Chelsea simply has not been able to replace Diego Costa’s goals and ultimately this is what may well cost them this season. If one of Chelsea’s strikers had been capable of scoring 20 plus goals this season added to the respectable tally from Eden Hazard (currently with 11) and Willian who is finding goal scoring form, then who knows what Chelsea might have achieved.

Of course, the season is not over yet and Chelsea is still in the battle for a top four Premier League finish and with a chance in both the Champions’ League and FA Cup. But one thing is for certain, there will not be a Chelsea striker who will score over 20 goals this season.

As a result someone at the club has made an error of judgement. As always this is difficult for anyone outside of the corridors of power at Stamford Bridge to discern. Was it Antonio Conte’s fault for not managing the awkward and troublesome Diego Costa better – could things not have been patched up between them? Perhaps the fingers should be pointed at the Board who did not buy an adequate replacement for a proven world class striker. Alvaro Morata certainly has the skill and potential to go with his world class price tag, but perhaps not the mentality and he has a long way to go before one can say with certainty that he is a proven world class striker.

Maybe our ire should be directed at the mercurial Costa. After all, he all but downed tools once the Chinese came sniffing around offering obscene amounts of money. Chelsea vetoed the move which would have soured the relationship between club and player, but there is a suspicion that his heart was closer to Madrid than it ever was to London and a move back there was perhaps inevitable.

With all the talk of Antonio Conte’s somewhat uncertain future at the club meaning the club will be looking for a new manager, it seems that another priority will be to persuade a proven world class striker to sign for the club.

They are not easy to find and do not come cheap. There is a reason for that. Their goals help the team to win trophies. Hopefully Chelsea’s Board has figured this out.

David Chidgey @StamfordChidge

David Chidgey presents the award winning Chelsea FanCast podcast which can be heard live every Monday at 19.00 at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from Acast, ITunes, Soundcloud or chelseafancast.com @ChelseaFanCast