Chelsea prove again that the can cope without their top scorer Diego Costa as they defeated defending champions Leicester City 3-0 at the Kings Stadium in the Premier League.
A training ground bust-up over his fitness amid rumours that he has had a lucrative offer from China had led to Antonio Conte dropping his star player but that was not to affect them as they confidently bounced back from their last league match loss to Tottenham to snatch a win at the Foxes and opened seven-points gap at the top of the table.
The points may be reduced back to five if Liverpool beat Man United on Sunday. A Harry Kane’s hat-trick gave Tottenham 4-0 win over West Brom as they leapfrogged Liverpool into the second position on the league standing.
With Costa’s absence Eden Hazard was drafted in his central position as Michy Batshuayi remained on the bench and awaits his first league start since joining in the summer.
Hazard set up Marcus Alonso for the opener after just six minutes and the wing-back added his second of the match also six minutes after restart and Pedro secured the three points 19 minutes from time.
This is Chelsea’s second league match without Costa in the team, the first being the 3-0 win over Bournemouth after the Spanish forward was suspended for the match.
Conte played down the training ground dispute before the match and claimed that Costa will be absent because of a back injury. Whatever the reason behind his absent, the Blues showed again that they can win without him. Costa has scored 14 goals and provided for them this season.