It was hard to watch Chelsea’s game against West Ham without wondering what a difference Diego Costa would have made.
The Blues had lots of possession and plenty of shots but they couldn’t force the ball in.
In fact, apart from one great late Ross Barkley effort, they didn’t really produce enough shots on goal.
Eden Hazard perhaps trying a little too hard to play pretty rather than get the ball flying towards the net didn’t help.
Costa didn’t worry about that kind of thing. He was always a man you could turn to to drag a game in your favour, forcing a mistake out of the opposition or battling to squeeze home a loose ball.
Olivier Giroud’s neat touches are great when they come off and the players around him are on their game. But he didn’t look particularly dangerous at any point in his time on the field. Alvaro Morata is not the man you want to be turning to for goals right now.
It’s time to start the search for the next player who can bring the edge that Costa once did back to this team.
