With less than a week to the start of a new season that will see Chelsea kick-start their title defence, their centre forward Diego Costa is yet sidelined with injury and it could hamper the Blues bid to retain last season\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n
Just in his first season, Costa\u2019s goals were crucial to Chelsea\u2019s campaign as they had an early grip on the title. He scored 20 Premier League goals in 26 appearances, but his injury record could prove costly to Chelsea this term.<\/p>\n
During the course of last season, the Blues had to rely on the attacking prowess and zest of Edin Hazard in the absence of Costa. However, even before the start of this season, the former Athletico Madrid man is already sidelined as he limped from club\u2019s friendly and missed the community Shield match against Arsenal.<\/p>\n
Giving Costa\u2019s injury record, there is no certainty that he will be consistent over the season. However, Chelsea can take advantage of their long standing relationship with the Rojiblancos and land their mesmerizing forward Antoine Greizmann.<\/p>\n
Greizmann, 24, scored 22 goals in 37 appearances for Athletico Madrid last term, and all of the goals coming from the left wing position. It is understood that if Chelsea meets his valuation price, he could be let loose from the radar of the Madrid club.<\/p>\n
Although, Mourinho has secured the services of Radamel Falcao to add to his attacking line, the show-off of the aforementioned player for last season means he cannot be solely trusted with the burden of scoring consistently for Chelsea.<\/p>\n
The Blues have so far failed to win any of their warm up games over 90 minutes and will face Swansea after a poor run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With less than a week to the start of a new season that will see Chelsea kick-start their title defence, their centre forward Diego Costa is yet sidelined with injury and it could hamper the Blues bid to retain last season\u2019s glory. Just in his first season, Costa\u2019s goals were crucial to Chelsea\u2019s campaign as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,581],"tags":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n