EPL: Costa saves Chelsea

Chelsea let slip a one-goal lead but battled back in the final 10 minutes to earn a share of the spoils in a thrilling 2-2 draw against Swansea City.
Diego Costa scored twice for his team either side of a Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty and Leroy Fer strike, meaning Antonio Conte’s winning start to life at Chelsea has come to an end – but it could have been much worse for the Italian.
The hosts went with a new five-at-the-back system from the off, which they failed to adjust to early on as Willian was allowed to drift into the box and test Lukasz Fabianski with a stinging shot.
Diego Costa’s breakthrough strike 18 minutes in gave the Blues a platform to build on, however, as the home side failed with three attempts to clear Branislav Ivanovic’s deep cross into the box.
Gylfi Sigurdsson chased down a pass and got to the ball ahead of Thibaut Courtois, who was himself lucky to avoid being dismissed, and the Iceland international blasted the ball down the middle to become Swansea’s record Premier League scorer.
The hosts used that goal as momentum to push on and they were ahead less than three minutes later when Gary Cahill was caught in possession by Leroy Fer, who raced through and prodded past Courtois to change the complexion of the game completely.
Antonio Conte, staring a first defeat as Chelsea boss right in the face, brought on Cesc Fabregas and Victor Moses as the game entered its final 15 minutes, and the pressure soon became unbearable for the hosts.
Oscar was involved in all Chelsea’s best moments, heading wide from a promising position and dragging another shot wide, but then the leveller did arrive when Costa acrobatically found the back of the net from close range after the Swans again failed to deal with a cross into the box.