Costa fires Blues to top of Premier League

A first-half Diego Costa strike sent Chelsea to the summit of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough at the Riverside stadium.

The former Atletico Madrid player instinctively put away his effort from close-range after poor Middlesbrough defending allowed the Spanish international to stroke home in the 41^st minute for his tenth of the season.

Chelsea rarely looked in trouble throughout the 90 minutes and with another instrumental display from Eden Hazard and co, there is little reason to doubt they can go on to claim another league title.

Despite the hosts starting the game on the front-foot, Chelsea grew into the tie and created the first opportunity in the 28^th minute when Victor Moses played in Pedro who produced a world-class save from Victor Valdes.

The former Barcelona goalkeeper was called into action again ten minutes later, after N'Golo Kanté’s through ball found the impressive Marcos Alonso whose shot was bravely stopped at the Portuguese’s near-post.

Antonio Conte’s side were quick out of the blocks in the second-half and the Pensioners could have doubled their advantage 30 seconds in when the influential Eden Hazard played in Alonso whose shot was once again met by the stubborn Valdes.

Middlesbrough showed little sign of revival until the 55^th minute when a clever dummy from Alfredo Negredo left Gaston Ramirez unmarked, but the former Southampton man smashed his shot some distance wide of the target.

The crossbar came to Aitor Karanka’s men’s rescue in the 63^rd minute when Costa headed back towards Pedro whose shot was only denied by the woodwork in what would have being a contender for goal of the season.

Middlesbrough were denied a late equaliser after Negredo produced a wonderful flick before forcing a great save from the otherwise under-worked Thibaut Courtois.

Chelsea have now won six on the bounce in the Premier League and will look to maintain their impressive form when they host Tottenham in a crunch clash at Stamford Bridge on the 26^th of November, while Middlesbrough will be looking to climb the table after falling to 15^th when they travel to Leicester City on the same date.

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