Diego Costa the reason Chelsea are top of the Premier League, says Ian Wright

On target: Diego Costa has scored 10 Premier League goals this season
LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/Getty Images
Tom Dutton22 November 2016

Ian Wright believes Diego Costa's impressive start to the season is the primary reason behind Chelsea's charge to the Premier League summit.

The Blues were eight points off the title pace following defeat to Arsenal in September, but have since strung together six victories without conceding a goal and are now outright leadersa.

Costa, who has already scored 10 top flight goals this term, picked up four bookings in his first six Premier League games this season, but has not since added to that tally.

Six games without picking up a yellow card has led some to conclude that Costa has learnt to keep a lid on things, prompting his impressive return to form under Antonio Conte.

But Wright thinks the Spain international has always had things under control on the pitch.

"Costa is in the form of his life right now and is the reason, above all others, why Chelsea are on top of the table," Wright wrote in The Sun.

"There are plenty of people who reckon it’s all down to the fact he has calmed down — and they point to no bookings since the Arsenal defeat two months ago as proof.

"Yet to me, even when Costa was picking up yellow cards, he remained massively in control.

"Yes, he landed in the referee’s notebook plenty of times. But he always knew how far to push it.

"He’d have picked up far more than a single red card in his time at Stamford Bridge if that wasn’t the case."

In Pictures | Middlesbrough vs Chelsea | 20/11/2016

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Costa scored the only goal as Chelsea edged past Middlesbrough to reclaim top spot on Sunday and Wright believes the 28-year-old brings more to the game than he is given credit for.

He added: "Anyone who thinks he is just a goalscorer has it totally wrong. I noticed the stats from Chelsea’s 5-0 win over Everton recently.

"Costa made 77 sprints in that match. Romelu Lukaku made 24.

"That’s a phenomenal work-rate from the Chelsea striker and is why defenders can never drop their guard."

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