#2 The uncertainty over Diego Costa’s future and a bright spark on bench
It was fitting that Antonio Conte started with his first choice striker for the last game of the season. However, Diego Costa couldn’t justify his starting place yet again. The striker has been linked away from the London club all throughout the year with the Chinese clubs sniffing every now and then. And his lacklustre performance and general demeanour just added fuel to the speculation if the Spaniard had played his last Premier League game for the club?
If that were true, does Conte need to focus on buying someone to replace him or not? To that extent, an often neglected forward on the bench has been answering the question for the past couple of weeks and did so again on the day.
Michy Batshuayi scored against Watford last weekend and summed up his last game of the season with a smartly taken brace after coming on for Costa. His flair and willingness to go the extra mile should make Conte really reconsider if the replacement for Costa is already here or not. Batshuayi shows a lot of promise and Conte may have just understood how to get the best out of the often-ignored striker.
