Chelsea's trip to Stoke on Saturday came on the back of the club's confirmation that striker Diego Costa will be heading back to Atletico Madrid and Alvaro Morata turned up for the party in style, elsewhere Leicester City narrowly and unluckily lost to visitors Liverpool.
1. Morata Can Do The Business But He's Not Costa's Replacement
Alvaro Morata Is Chelsea's record signing and was brought in from European Champions Real Madrid. The Spaniard has netted six goals in six games and a hat-trick at the bet365 stadium was not a fluke. Morata's three goals on the day did well in his bid to exorcise any thoughts about the departing Diego Costa. His compatriot had helped the blues to two league titles in the space of three years, but Morata's display on Saturday was almost magical, just what the manager would have wanted. The Chelsea fans as well as the neutrals who had longed for the former Real Madrid and Juventus striker to score with his foot must have been stunned with that display, but then again there's a man called Diego Costa who is not famed for scoring way to many but the Brazilian born attacker manages to net 'winning goals' when Chelsea need them. The mood of the Chelsea faithful shouldn't be dampened but facts are facts and Costa's departure would be felt if or when Chelsea begin to find it difficult in imposing themselves on the opposing defence. The team may figure out that with a 'new striker' in Morata they would actually need to change the entirety of their approach in order to get the best out of the Spaniard.
2. Manchester United's Win Was More Than Just Three Points
The ability for Jose Mourinho's Manchester United to 'hold on' and see off the game at Southampton did not just give the red devils all three points, it also showed how far the group of players have come as a team. Mourinho's men seem to have successfully broken the curse of draws that plagued and haunted the team last term. Romelu Lukaku's solitary strike in the first half was just enough to clunch all three points. Performances and results like this were a mainstay in Sir Alex Ferguson's title winning seasons. There were some games where the performances were not top class, not by a long shot but the results were grinded out. The game on Saturday was a character of a title winning side and that character as important as the three points.
3. Great Victory But Liverpool Are Behind
A missed penalty from Jamie Vardy helped ensure that Liverpool steal all three points at the King Power Stadium against Leicester. The fact that the reds did not have Sadio Mane available was a factor. All due respect to the 2016 Champions who actually beat a weakened Liverpool three days earlier but Jurgen Klopp's men have it in them to come away with a more convincing victory at but like last season Liverpool win big when they want to but their unconvincing display in some games meant they had to seal UCL qualification right at the last day of the previous season. The group of players have a lot of work of to do by playing together and grinding out results just like they did on Saturday.
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