Chelsea’s Diego Costa continued his stunning start to life in the Premier League with a hat-trick in a 4-2 comeback win over Swansea City on Saturday that left champion Manchester City staring up the table after a 2-2 draw at Arsenal.
Costa, who now has seven goals from his first four league games, helped Chelsea come out on top against the only other team with a 100 percent record, after Swansea had taken the lead with an early own goal from John Terry.
New signing Loic Remy grabbed his first Chelsea goal before Jonjo Shelvey netted a consolation late on, leaving the west London side three points clear at the top and five ahead of title rival Manchester City.
City’s Martin Demichelis scored with a late looping header after moments of sublime skill from Jack Wilshere and Alexis Sanchez had briefly turned the match in Arsenal’s favour, following Sergio Aguero’s opener.
Chelsea fans probably did not need reminding just how big an upgrade Diego Costa was on his predecessor Fernando Torres, but just in case any doubts remained about their new striker’s pedigree, they were emphatically dismissed against Swansea.
Trailing to a Terry own goal after 11 minutes, Costa set about Swansea like a one-man wrecking ball, powering home a header on the stroke of halftime, converting a Cesc Fabregas cross after the restart and then guiding a Ramires shot home.
Remy swept the ball into the net unmarked on the edge of the area to make it 4-1, having only been on the pitch a matter of minutes to add a touch of gloss to the result.
Shelvey grabbed a late consolation of little significance, except perhaps to Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho who values a water-tight defence and will not be impressed by his team conceding a fifth goal in two games after their 6-3 win at Everton two weeks ago.
Arsenal handed a debut to striker Danny Welbeck, who had an early chance to score when he raced on to a misplaced pass from David Silva and attempted an audacious chip over keeper Joe Hart which struck the inside of the post.
If the former Manchester United forward wanted a lesson in ruthlessness, it was provided by others on the pitch.
City’s Aguero opened the scoring with a tidy sidefoot, Wilshere levelled in the second half with a beautiful run into the box and dinked finish and, not to be out-done, close-season signing Sanchez let fly with a perfectly-timed sidefoot volley.
The results: Chelsea 4 (Costa 45, 56, 67, Remy 81) bt Swansea 2 (Terry 11-og, Shelvey 86); Crystal Palace 0 drew with Burnley 0; Southampton 4 (Pelle 6, 19, Cork 54, Schneiderlin 90) bt Newcastle 0; Stoke 0 lost to Leicester 1 (Ulloa 64); Sunderland 2 (Johnson 4, Kane 82-og) drew with Tottenham 2 (Chadli 2, Eriksen 48); West Brom 0 lost to Everton 2 (Lukaku 2, Mirallas 66); Liverpool 0 lost to Aston Villa 1 (Agbonlahor 9).
