If Diego Costa’s reaction to a lucrative offer from China came as a nasty shock to Antonio Conte, the Chelsea manager enjoyed a pleasant surprise here courtesy of Marcos Alonso. The Spanish wing-back struck two goals as Chelsea made light of their top scorer’s absence and inflicted a heavy defeat on the team whose title they intend taking. A later goal by Pedro emphasised the point.
The party line delivered by Conte before kick-off was that Costa was unavailable because of “pain in his back” but the truth was that the absence of the Premier League’s leading scorer indicated what a pain in the neck China risks becoming to English clubs. But Chelsea’s immediate task here was to respond to domestic threats.
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