Chelsea’s Diego Costa has hit peak form with Antonio Conte’s men beginning to look like a title winning side

WE are approaching the time of the year of when pantomime villains take centre stage but Diego Costa appears to have put his costume in the loft.

For the time being at least.

A man capable of being angry, provocative and pretty damn stupid has now realised the benefits of focusing on football rather than behaving like an annoying child.

Antonio Conte, whose team are beginning to have the look of champions, believes his Spaniard is now one of the best strikers in the world, while his defence is now among the meanest on this planet.

Chelsea have now gone 590 Prem minutes without conceding a goal — 6½-games — with that last strike coming from Mesut Ozil which put Arsenal 3-0 up five minutes before half-time at the Emirates way back on September 24.

That second half is remembered for the moment Conte switched to a back three and the results since have been spectacular.

Equally, that watershed moment in North London was also the last time Costa received a booking and since then he has been on impeccable behaviour, scoring five times.

One more caution and he will serve a suspension for five bookings yet Costa, who looks fit and hungry, seems on a mission to avoid a weekend off.

As Conte admitted afterwards, he now understands the importance of being a well-behaved team player rather than playing the fool.

There were a few occasions when Middlesbrough’s defenders left their foot in on a tackle, gave him a little nudge and tried to block a run but he ignored the temptation to misbehave.

Instead, he scored the winner and set up two other excellent chances which should have led to a more comfortable Blues win.

Costa has now scored 10 goals in 12 Premier League games — along with three assists — and has moved ahead of

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero in the scoring charts.

Those two strikers will come face-to-face when Chelsea visit Manchester City on December 3 yet before then, Conte’s men will attempt to end Tottenham’s unbeaten record.

Two big matches. Four points from both, maybe even a couple of draws, will prove that Chelsea will be major contenders this season.

This morning they top the table. Exactly a year ago after 12 games they were 16th, three points above the relegation zone with just 11 points.

Even Chelsea’s fans, who are not used to spending European midweeks with nothing to do, would have settled for a place

back in the top four this season. They certainly did not expect this.

While this was not vintage stuff, like that brilliant 5-0 battering of Everton two weeks earlier, the way they scrapped past their opponents in the north-east was equally as important.

Although Aitor Karanka’s tactics of containing Chelsea wing-backs Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses initially worked, the patient visitors eventually took control with Eden Hazard also sprinkling some of his stardust over proceedings, while

Pedro was also a threat.

Victor Valdes delivered a good save to deny Pedro and then made another important stop from Alonso although suffered a bang on the head from team-mate Fabio.

In his post-match press conference, Karanka denied his keeper was suffering from any problems after that clash but Valdes still looked a bit dazed for Chelsea’s goal.

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Hazard’s corner came off the back of Calum Chambers and Valdes and while Gaston Ramirez, Ben Gibson and Marten de

Roon did their version of the Mannequin Challenge and Costa reacted first to put the ball past Valdes.

Boro’s keeper made another decent save to deny Alonso and while the home side worked hard they lacked composure up

front with Ramirez wasting a good chance. Costa again proved his worth with a fantastic header back towards Pedro, whose shot hit the woodwork.

Chelsea’s in-form player also charged through the middle of the pitch to release Moses whose finish was poor.

In their only proper chance of the game towards the end, Alvaro Negredo forced Thibaut Courtois into a crucial save and the Stamford Bridge side hung on.

After a run of six games without a win, Boro were on a decent run with draws against Arsenal and Manchester City and a win over Bournemouth. With Leicester, Hull and Southampton coming up, Boro should be able to avoid a crisis ahead of Christmas.

They have enough to stay in this league.

These two teams will next meet at Stamford Bridge on May 6 — the third to last game of the season.

And while Boro will hope to be safe by then, they could face a team with the smell of the title in their nostrils.

Until then, the challenge for Costa is to stay out of trouble and keep scoring. On current evidence, the penny has finally

dropped.

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