Costa rescues point for Chelsea

An acrobatic volley from Diego Costa rescued a point for Chelsea as they drew 2-2 with Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.

The forward will dominate the post-match headlines once again as he grabbed a brace for the Blues but also could have been sent off.

For the third match of this Premier League season, the Spain international was considered lucky by some observers to escape receiving a second yellow card and his marching orders.

On this occasion Costa appeared to dive in his efforts to draw a challenge from Lukasz Fabianski and be awarded a penalty and although the referee correctly judged the Polish goalkeeper to have not committed a foul, Costa escaped censure for what seemed to be a dive.

Having already been booked earlier in the game for his usual belligerent behaviour, Antonio Conte's men could have been a player short as they trailed the Swans but instead they were thankful when with nine minutes remaining his textbook overhead kick smashed into the net via Kyle Naughton's face, with queries as to whether Costa's actions constituted dangerous play.

The former Atletico Madrid striker had put his side ahead on 18 minutes when he fired home to give a dominant Chelsea the lead but the game was turned on its head in the space of three second half minutes.

Gylfi Sigurdsson stroked home from the penalty spot on 59 minutes before Leroy Fer bundled home their second to give the Welsh side a lead they scarcely merited.

However, in a thrilling final half-hour of the game Francesco Guidolin's side played a big part in the excitement as the game went end-to-end for periods.

However, they were to be denied a vital three points when Costa struck and they withstood a late barrage to hang on for a point which they probably ended up deserving.

Swansea move up to 13th place in the table while Chelsea remain second, two points behind leaders Manchester City.

But while any title bid which they manage to put together will be spearheaded by Costa, Conte will know his forward is walking a fine line in terms of behaviour and could well end up suspended for a number of games over the campaign.