Chelsea dropped their first points of the Premier League season as they could only draw 2-2 at Swansea City.
Diego Costa opened the scoring for the Blues, who looked to be cruising to a fourth win from four before the hosts hit back through a Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty and Leroy Fer's controversial goal just moments later.
Costa's acrobatic strike hauled Antonio Conte's men level nine minutes from time to preserve their unbeaten start and keep them on the coattails of early-season leaders Manchester City but the post-match discussion centred on how Fer's goal was allowed to stand.
The Dutchman clearly tripped the Blues defender twice before racing through to slot past Thibaut Courtois, prompting Cahill to approach referee Andre Marriner after the game to discuss the decision and plenty of pundits also had their say on the moment which turned the game on its head.
John Terry suffered an ankle injury in the dying stages of the draw but, due to the swelling, the Blues must wait until tomorrow to determine the full extent of his injury.
Scroll through today's blog for plenty more Chelsea news, including the Blues' confirmed FIFA 17 ratings ahead of the demo being released tomorrow, while there are also transfer links with Manchester United's Matteo Darmian and an Atalanta youngster.
Swansea City 2-2 Chelsea
Key Events
That's all for today!
What a busy day it’s been...
Here are just some of the big news stories from Chelsea today!
- Gary Cahill unlikely to face FA punishment
- Chelsea forced to wait until tomorrow on John Terry scan
- Blues’ FIFA 17 ratings released - and there are some surprises
- Pepe, Darmian and Atalanta starlet all linked with Stamford Bridge moves
- And Cuadrado reveals why he did ‘everything’ to leave Chelsea
Scroll through the live blog for all of this and a lot, lot more.
Have a great evening.
Ian Wright's a fan too!
Wright clearly fancies the idea of Costa leading the line for Arsenal...
In his weekly podcast with Shaun Custis for The Sun, he said:
“With all due respect to everybody who is constantly on him, I actually love watching him simply because, and Gary Lineker mentioned this, he’s bonkers.
“But he’s not bonkers, he knows exactly what he is doing.
“If the referees are not going to pull it up, why should Diego Costa change what he is doing if he is going to get away with it – having a go at people, digging in?
“I like it because he upsets people. I don’t want people to be happy playing against my centre forward, I don’t want that.
“I want defenders to know that they are playing against Diego Costa, that something’s happening.
“He’s right on the edge, that’s what I love.
“It’s up to the referees and officials to calm him down, but he plays on the edge and he gets it done.”
Hazard hails Costa
Hazard’s the latest to toast Diego’s latest brilliant performance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKQtJLugfJd/
Should Costa's second goal have stood?
Yes, yes it should.
But plenty of people haven’t seen it that way - some believe Costa’s bicycle kick and Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny’s acrobatic effort the day before - should have been chalked off.
Former referee Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports News HQ, though, that they were the correct decisions.
“I think it’s very, very difficult to award a free-kick against the forward because it was so skilful.
“Eighteen months ago we watched Cameron Jerome score a similar goal and there was outrage that it was disallowed. Now a similar goal has been scored and people are asking why it was given.
“Last year we wanted it corrected. Everybody felt the forward should have been allowed to score that goal because it was so skilful and Costa did the same yesterday.”
There are some surprises in Chelsea's FIFA 17 ratings
Chelsea fans won’t be impressed that N’Golo Kante is only worthy of an 81, nor fellow new signing Marcos Alonso being rated a 77.
Thibaut Courtois (89), Eden Hazard (88) and Diego Costa (85) are - rather unsurprisingly - the top three Blues players on the game.
The demo is released tomorrow and you will be able to play as the Blues or 11 other teams (including Manchester United and Manchester City) as well as being able to play games under the lights at Stamford Bridge as one of three stadia.
There are also a few absentees from the first-team squad on the demo, with Chelsea having 23 players to choose from.
Chelsea linked with Manchester United 'outcast'
An interesting piece of speculation, this one.
Calcio Mercato are reporting that Chelsea could move for out-of-favour Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian.
The Italian has struggled for minutes under former Blues boss Jose Mourinho but the report suggests Antonio Conte is a fan of his fellow countryman, although Chelsea would face competition from both Juventus and Napoli.
Why was Victor Moses
You may have noticed Swansea fans booed Victor Moses when he came on for Willian at Swansea yesterday.
The winger was subjected to a hostile reception from the home supporters for his 13-minute cameo.
The answer to why he was is very interesting - and makes Swansea fans’ reaction seem even more bizarre.
Chelsea 'forced to wait' on Terry injury
Chelsea will be forced to wait another 24 hours to discover whether or not captain John Terry will be fit for Friday night’s match against Liverpool.
The Blues skipper suffered an ankle injury at the end of the 2-2 draw at Swansea City on Sunday and left the Liberty Stadium on crutches.
Antonio Conte was hopeful of learning the extent of Terry’s injury today, but a scan has now been scheduled for tomorrow as Chelsea’s medical staff wait for the swelling around his ankle to go down.
Chelsea linked with Emmanuel Latte Lath
The Blues are interested in 17-year-old Ivory Coast starlet Emmanuel Latte Lath, according to Bleacher Report.
Atalanta are determined to tie their prized asset but Chelsea are said to be readying a bid for the in-demand youngster.
Ricardo Rodriguez explains why he didn't move to Chelsea this summer
Wolfsburg left-back Ricardo Rodriguez has been discussing why he didn’t leave the Bundesliga this summer.
Rodriguez was linked with a move to Stamford Bridge this summer prior to Marcos Alonso completing his switch from Fiorentina.
Rodriguez told German newspaper Bild...
“I guess it was just meant to be this way. God wanted it this way.
“You just need the right timing for a transfer and it’s a fact that during this transfer window, there were hardly any transfers of players in my position.
“I have a contract here until 2019 and I’ve been here for four-and-a-half years and established quite a reputation within the team. Everything’s good, believe me.”
Conte and Costa compared to Fergie and Keane
Steve McClaren believes Antonio Conte and Diego Costa’s relationship is reminiscent of Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane’s time together at Manchester United.
McClaren was on Sky Sports Now on Monday morning and said...
“The combination of Antonio Conte and Diego Costa is fascinating.
“They’re great to watch.
“They’re alike. One is crazy on the field and one is crazy off the field. They’re a perfect combination. They know each other and Conte is probably the best person to deal with Costa.
“It reminds me a little bit of the Ferguson/Keane partnership. They were alike. They knew what each other wanted. Together they were very, very strong.
“I think Conte and Costa are getting like that and I think Chelsea will be there or thereabouts purely because of their personalities driving this Chelsea team forward.”
Pepe set to sign Real Madrid deal
Our sister website Mirror Football are claiming that Real Madrid defender Pepe will dash any hope Chelsea have of signing him by penning a new deal at the Bernabeu.
Antonio Conte is still keen to strengthen the heart of his defence despite sealing the signing of David Luiz, with both John Terry and Gary Cahill ageing.
Pepe was a rumoured target for the Blues due to his current deal expiring next summer, with a two-year deal reportedly on the table, but with Madrid facing a transfer ban and needing to hold onto their key players, they have decided to offer a new three-year contract to the Euro 2016 winner.
More to follow...
Costa named in Garth Crooks' team of the week
I don’t know about you, but this is one of my favourite moments of the week.
This is a fairly tame effort from Garth, mind, with Costa in the following XI...
Mandanda; Walker, Stones, Koscielny, Holebas; Lallana, De Bruyne, Son; Mane, Costa, Firmino.
And on Costa, he said...
“Recalled to the Spanish national team in midweek, the striker helped himself to two goals to justify his selection and another two against Swansea in the league in a pulsating game at the Liberty Stadium.
“The Chelsea hitman looks deadly in front of goal at the moment but still can’t help causing mischief.
“Pundits with a younger perspective tell me how much they enjoy the aggressive element to his game and, without it, he would be far less effective.
“What nonsense. The lad can play. Once you have that, do you need anything else?”
Cuadrado discusses loan move to Juventus
This may annoy Chelsea fans.
Cuadrado clearly did all he could to engineer his move to Juventus, where he will spend the next three seasons.
He told JTV...
“It’s exciting.
“To see the stands and the noise the fans make, I’m excited by the public’s support.
“I did everything to come back, and thanks to God I’m here.
“I’m very happy.”
ICYMI: The full story on Cahill set to escape FA ban
Gary Cahill is expected to avoid any punishment from the FA for his post-match comments about the match officials after Chelsea’s 2-2 draw at Swansea City.
Cahill fumed after the Swans’ second goal was allowed to stand by referee Andre Marriner despite what appeared a clear foul from Leroy Fer in the build-up.
The Blues central defender approached Marriner after the match for an answer and told reporters afterwards that Fer’s goal should not have stood after a foul so obvious “you could be sat on the moon and see it”.
Matic: We're not happy
Nemanja Matic echoed the views of plenty of the Chelsea squad by claiming a point wasn’t enough yesterday.
He told reporters...
“We are not happy with one point, we deserved more.
“But we have to be focused on the next game, which is a big one and have to win.
“We must see where we made mistakes, see what we did well and continue.”
Poll: Should Fabregas replace Matic against Liverpool
Okay then Chelsea fans, you can have your say on this here.
Should Fabregas replace Matic?
Vote in our poll below!
Chelsea fans are calling for Fabregas
There’s an increasing number of supporters who feel Fabregas must start - and Nemanja Matic looks the likeliest fall guy.
An ex-Chelsea striker could have moved to the Premier League this summer
Former Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo has revealed how he rejected the chance to return to the Premier League this summer.
West Brom reportedly made a late move to sign the Schalke frontman, but he spurned their advances to remain in the Bundesliga.
He told Kicker:
“The interest from West Brom was made public, but I got loads of other offers – from England and other leagues, all teams similar to Schalke.
“Financially, some of them were quite lucrative, but I never for a minute thought of a premature exit from Schalke.”
Courtois apologises for his 'stupid' mistake
Thibaut Courtois conceded a penalty yesterday and has held his hands up for the error.
The Blues goalkeeper brought down Gylfi Sigurdsson - with the Icelandic then converting the spot-kick - and admitted his error was ‘stupid’.
He told us...
“We’re very disappointed. We were very good in the first half.
“We scored early and we made chances.
“In the second half they had a good counter attack.
“They played the ball to the striker. I thought I could reach the ball first but it bounced and then I tried to recover and gave away the penalty. It was a little bit stupid but okay.”
He also had time to discuss THAT Gary Cahill incident.
JT posts picture of his injury
This was taken from JT’s Instagram story yesterday, in which he reveals the strapping around his ankle from yesterday’s injury.
Cahill 'unlikely' to face punishment for Marriner comments
ESPN FC are reporting that Gary Cahill will not face retrospective punishment for the comments he made about Andre Marriner.
Cahill approached Marriner after the 2-2 draw at Swansea to discuss why he failed to award a foul for Leroy Fer’s challenge on him in the build-up to the Swans’ second goal and gave a very candid post-match interview to BBC Sport, in which he claimed a decision could have been made from the moon.
We will keep you posted on this.
The honeymoon period is over for Conte
Dan Levene’s Monday column has landed, Chelsea fans.
And in it, he explains how Antonio Conte was handed a belated welcome to the Premier League as the Blues’ defensive flaws were exposed by Swansea City.
Here’s a snippet...
“If Antonio Conte was under any illusions as to the gentle fragility of his side of battlers, then that should no longer be the case after this trip to The Liberty.
“130 seconds is all it took, to turn from comfortable ascendancy to embarrassed also-rans; and though they eventually battled back to parity, this was clearly two points dropped rather than one rescued.”
David Luiz’s possible second Chelsea debut is also discussed.
'Atletico's loss is Chelsea's gain with Diego Costa'
Alan Smith has lauded Diego Costa following yesterday’s 2-2 draw and claimed the Spaniard will be pivotal to the Blues’ title hopes this season.
In his column for the Telegraph, he wrote...
“Diego Costa did not make much secret of the fact he quite fancied returning to Atletico Madrid this summer.
“After two years at Chelsea, he pined for a reunion.
“Well, Antonio Conte, for one, will be mightily relieved that did not come to pass.
“For if Sunday’s humdinger of a contest at Swansea taught the Italian anything, it was that Costa is absolutely pivotal to Chelsea’s chances this season.
“Without him, the team lacks a focal point no-one else can provide.
“Atletico’s loss looks like a key Chelsea gain.”
Options for Chelsea if Terry misses the Liverpool game
Conte has decisions to make should Terry fail in his fitness battle for this Friday’s game.
David Luiz appears the most likely contender to step in for the captain, but could Marcos Alonso be drafted in at left-back, Azpilicueta pushed across to right-back and Branislav Ivanovic line up in the middle?
The alternative option is to go with three at the back and play each of Ivanovic, Cahill and Luiz in the middle of defence.
Plenty to ponder...
