It’s rarely dull in the Premier League.
Whether it was a back injury or thoughts of China (or probably a bit of both) keeping Diego Costa out of the team last weekend, he certainly looked like a man who had put it all behind him yesterday.
He was all smiles after firing the Blues in front against Hull, Gary Cahill doubling the lead with 10 minutes spare to send Chelsea eight points clear at the top.
Man of the match, @ChelseaFC's Diego Costa
56 touches
30 passes, 80% accuracy
6 shots, 3 on target
52nd goal for the club on his 100th app pic.twitter.com/wV6LZ6xwll— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) January 22, 2017
That 2-0 win capped off a pretty good weekend for Antonio Conte, with plenty of their title rivals dropping points along the way.
Arsenal didn’t, but they left it late – very late, in fact – to get the better of Burnley.
Shkodran Mustafi headed in his first goal for the club on the hour mark, and even without Granit Xhaka, who picked up his second red card of the season shortly after, the Gunners had second place firmly in their sights.
And then 7 minutes of injury times come up on the fourth official’s board. And then Francis Coquelin misses the ball and catches Ashley Barnes. And then the referee points to the spot. And then Arsene Wenger was sent from the touchline. And then he shoved the fourth official. And then Andre Gray tucked in the penalty. Classic Arsenal, we thought.
But that was only the start of it. There was still time for Arsenal to earn a penalty of their own, and for Wenger to get his slice of luck. Laurent Koscielny looked offside, but Ben Mee threw his boot too high and clipped the Frenchman’s forehead.
Alexis Sanchez was the coolest man in North London, chipping it down the middle. Arsenal went second.
WATCH: Wenger could be in trouble for pushing fourth official, says Graeme Souness. More: https://t.co/H143u9NPKv https://t.co/xSbs2ninlO
— Sky Football âš½ï¸ (@SkyFootball) January 22, 2017
Saturday left us swamped with storylines too.
Liverpool and Swansea started the weekend in some style, Jurgen Klopp’s side switching off after a dull first half to conceded twice shortly after the restart, Fernando Llorente with both.
By the 70th minute though, we thought Liverpool could snatch it. Roberto Firmino got a brace of his own to make it 2-2, and just as it looked like the Reds would keep in touch with the leaders, they switched off again. Gylfi Sigurdsson was the Swansea hero as they climbed out of the relegation zone.
And then it was off to the cold and windy Stoke for more drama as Wayne Rooney came off the bench to save a point for Manchester United, his 250th goal for the club breaking Bobby Charlton’s long-standing record.
It mightn’t have been the fairytale result for Rooney, but with their top four rivals also dropping points, the damage could have been worse.
He spoke to Today FM’s Ian Beach after the game.
Claudio Bravo’s goalkeeping has been the subject of much criticism in recent weeks, but after Manchester City and Spurs played out a 2-2 draw in Saturday’s late kick-off, it was Hugo Lloris that was left red-faced.
In the space of five minutes he dropped two clangers to allow Leroy Sane and Kevin de Bruyne to score, before City’s creaky defence stole the show, allowing Spurs snatch an unlikely point.
It’s never easy at the top. Except, it seems, if you’re Chelsea.
