Chelsea’s Diego Costa pounces late to sink battling Watford

A week into Antonio Conte’s Premier League career and, at first glance, life at Chelsea is proving all rather predictable. This was a second successive win secured late, courtesy of a goal from Diego Costa, with Watford left as deflated as West Ham United had been five days earlier. Dig deeper, though, and the visitors’ ability to recover from a rather disjointed display and claim success felt rather more significant. It was a demonstration of clout.

Conte, for all his frustrations with the transfer market and his intention still to recruit, had the depth of quality on his bench to erode the hosts’ authority. He could fling on Michy Batshuayi, plucked from Marseille for £33.1m this summer, in partnership with Costa to force Chelsea level, and inject Victor Moses’s energy on the flank where Pedro Rodríguez had been rather aimless. Most of all, he could introduce the class and invention of Cesc Fàbregas, against opponents who had just started to doubt themselves, to provide a winner.

Fàbregas, unused on Monday, was flung on for the final 12 minutes here and in effect changed the complexion of the game. Watford were distracted by his presence, infuriated by the needle the Spaniard injects into the challenge and wary of his ability to thread a pass through the clutter. Where Eden Hazard had previously been forced deep to seek out the ball and exert any kind of influence, now the Belgian felt liberated, with Fàbregas drawing the attention elsewhere. It was Hazard’s low shot, spat from distance, that Heurelho Gomes spilled for Batshuayi to ram in the equaliser.

The striker already boasts a goal, an assist and a shot thundered against the woodwork in stoppage time, from 22 minutes as a Premier League player. Yet, while he is already forging a reputation in this league, Fàbregas is seeking to justify his. His most significant contribution here was reserved until three minutes from time. Collecting possession in a blur just outside his own penalty area, the midfielder sprayed a glorious angled pass downfield that split the back-tracking Craig Cathcart and Sebastian Prödl for a galloping Costa to gather. The striker trundled on and slipped his shot through Gomes’s legs as the goalkeeper advanced.

“We all know Cesc, that he is a great player with a great technique, always with a good pass and assist,” said Conte. “I made this substitution because, at that moment, I saw Watford were thinking only about defending. So I was happy with Cesc’s impact, and I’m pleased with his attitude. He’s working very hard in training to show he deserves to play. If I see that attitude and commitment, I’m very happy.”

Both provider and scorer had been engulfed by gleeful team-mates while Conte celebrated manically on the sidelines. It had taken Chelsea six matches to register six points last term. This year, they boast that tally after two.

The seated Walter Mazzarri glanced briefly in his compatriot’s direction, reluctant as he was to offer up a reaction. These two have history from their time in charge of Napoli and Juventus respectively pursuing the Scudetto back home and, for a while here, the Watford manager must have dared to believe he could condemn Conte to his first defeat in the English game. His team, comfortable with the three-man defence he had used in Naples, had posed a threat through Nordin Amrabat and José Holebas down the flanks and, having gone close through Odion Ighalo, eventually led.

Adlène Guedioura, outstanding in combination with Amrabat, swung over a cross that looped beyond Troy Deeney to reach Étienne Capoue, unmarked on the far side of the penalty area. The angle was unkind but the Frenchman, benefiting from Gary Cahill’s flicker of hesitation, collected and crunched a left-footed shot high into the top corner beyond Thibaut Courtois’s outstretched hand. It was Capoue’s second goal in successive games – he had scored only once in his previous 57 outings – though neither has yielded a win.

This team have now surrendered leads in their first two games of the campaign, though they will have been encouraged by confirmation of the signings of Younès Kaboul and, more eye-catchingly, Roberto Pereyra.

“I’m not going to sleep very well, but we can hold our heads high,” Mazzarri said. “We played much better than we did at Southampton, where we’d played only 20 minutes like I’d wanted us to play. Today we managed 70.” That is progress. It is just not quite as marked as that of Chelsea under Conte.

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