Diego Costa began to pay back his hefty transfer fee with a debut goal for Chelsea as they recovered from the shock of going behind to seal an emphatic 3-1 win over Burnley on Monday.
Spain striker Costa, bought from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid for ￡32 million (US$53 million), canceled out Scott Arfield’s opener for Burnley, before Andre Schurrle and Branislav Ivanovic scored further goals before halftime to ease Jose Mourinho’s side to an impressive victory in their Premier League opener at Turf Moor.
Having failed to bring a trophy to Stamford Bridge last season for the first time in his two spells in charge, Blues boss Mourinho — and possibly club owner Roman Abramovich — will not tolerate such relative failure again.
Photo: EPA
The arrival of Costa therefore came as a serious show of intent and Chelsea’s determination to dethrone reigning champions Manchester City was further underlined as they went top of the table after a dominant performance, inspired by a masterful debut from Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
“When you come to a place like this and you are a goal down against a difficult team, then players can get downheartened and lose faith. Burnley are a direct and physical side, but overall we had good control and we showed moments of class,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“I agree completely with Cesc as man of the match. He controlled the tempo of the game and was responsible for the best phase of our play,” he added. “Diego was very important as he made our first goal and that was very important.”
Burnley briefly looked like upsetting the odds when they took the lead in the 13th minute.
Five years ago it had been Robbie Blake who had been Burnley’s hero with a thumping volley, and Arfield’s strike did not suffer much by comparison.
The opening began with a corner that was only cleared as far as Burnley defender Michael Duff and he headed the ball back to Matty Taylor. Taylor’s cross eluded the bodies waiting in the penalty area, but not midfielder Arfield, who controlled the ball and sent a dipping long-range volley beyond Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, selected ahead of Petr Cech, and into the roof of the net.
Burnley could not have dreamed of a better start, but the goal served only to wake Chelsea up, and after Costa’s equalizer four minutes later there was going to be only one winner.
With none of Chelsea’s strikers reaching double figures in the Premier League last season, the Spain international was recruited by Mourinho to give his side more of a cutting edge, and he delivered straight away, driving home a loose ball after Burnley captain Jason Shackell had deflected a cross from Ivanovic against a post.
Four minutes later Chelsea were in front thanks to a flash of inspiration from former Barcelona star Fabregas.
His first-time pass which split Burnley’s defense was sublime and Schurrle took full advantage of the service as he ran through to side-foot into the net.
Burnley’s back four, the same set who had the best defensive record in the Championship last season, could not cope with Chelsea’s movement and the vision of Eden Hazard in particular, and even the basics of defending a corner deserted them when Ivanovic volleyed in Chelsea’s third goal from inside the six-yard box following Fabregas’ corner 11 minutes before halftime.
It could have been worse had Costa been awarded a penalty rather than a booking when he went to ground under slight contact from goalkeeper Tom Heaton before the third goal went in, but rather than capitulate, Burnley started the second half positively and almost found a route back into the game through Arfield, whose curling shot was superbly saved by Courtois.
That was the only scare for Chelsea, though, as they cruised home, saving their energy for tougher battles ahead.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
RSS