“Chelsea didn’t deserve to lose the game but we’re happy because we got a point on the table.
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I was a footballer and this situation is normal”, Conte said, according to his club’s website. He is a warrior. I felt City had the fragility on the sides and the kid could give us in the second half on the sides what we didn’t get with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard in the first half.
“I don’t want to talk about the decision [for the second Swansea goal] but I think it was a bad decision by the referee”.
The goal, Costa’s fourth in as many games, spared Conte from his first loss in English football after two controversial Swansea goals in three second-half minutes had cancelled out Costa’s opener.
“Diego is a player with great passion and they try to provoke”. Today I’m pleased because he showed me, he showed his team-mates, he showed everyone that he has fantastic behaviour.
It was astonishing that the Blues ended up dropping their first points of the season and they will feel like they actually lost the game because they had made such a good start.
A spectacular late overhead kick from Costa earned Chelsea a point although they failed to maintain a ideal start to the campaign and join Manchester City in first place.
There is no other way of putting it, because Leroy Fer’s foul on Chelsea defender Gary Cahill before he scored was as blatant as can be.
Three minutes later, referee Andre Marriner adjudged Fer to have robbed Cahill cleanly and he stabbed the ball past Courtois and into the net. They drew level as Oscar turned the ball back to Ivanovic, who worked his way into space only for his low shot to spin up off Amat.
Given his track record and disciplinary issues, it’s no real surprise to anyone if this was a genuine strategy from the Swans, but the Chelsea boss wants to avoid situations where Costa is purposely being singled out.
Manager Francesco Guidolin changed tactics from a misfiring 3-5-1-1 system before halftime, withdrawing the disgruntled Welsh global Neil Taylor for Gambian winger Modou Barrow.
Terry also posted a picture of his injured ankle after leaving the stadium on crutches.
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“Costa is a champion, he is strong striker, he is a fighter”, said the Italian. “When he is scoring goals, we are doing the right things”.
