Costa scored twice, Chelsea increased the gap with Tottenham to 7 points

The Spanish striker shone in Conte's team's convincing 4-2 victory over Southampton.

Costa celebrates with his teammates after scoring the third goal for Chelsea. Photo: Reuters.

Goals: Hazard 5', Cahill 45', Costa 53' 89' - Romeu 24', Bertrand 90'.

This victory helps Chelsea put pressure on Tottenham in the Premier League title race. The Stamford Bridge team increased the gap with their opponents to seven points but played one more game in the context of the season with five rounds left.

Despite Southampton's equaliser through Oriol Romeu after Eden Hazard had opened the scoring early on, Chelsea eased into the game and took the lead late in the first half through a Gary Cahill header. Diego Costa scored twice in the second half before Southampton got a pointless Ryan Bertrand strike.

Conte made just one change from his usual line-up, replacing Pedro with Cesc Fabregas on the right wing. The former Arsenal midfielder provided the assist for Costa to head in the third goal after a corner and set up the attack that led to Hazard's opener.

Costa and Hazard prove their influence in Chelsea's playing style. Photo: Reuters.

This was only the 10th time Fabregas has started for Chelsea this season. Conte has not rated him highly for his defensive abilities and has played as a reserve for N'golo Kante and Nemanja Matic in a more attacking wing formation. However, Fabregas recaptured his best form in this game and Conte has opened a new door for him on the right wing.

Costa and Hazard continued to show their importance in the Chelsea squad. In the first leg in October 2016, these two players also scored to bring Chelsea a 2-0 victory. Costa passed the ball to Hazard for a one-touch finish to open the scoring in a situation where Southampton had seven defenders but could not stop the Chelsea duo.

Hazard set up Fabregas for Costa's third cross and then played a one-two with the Spaniard for the fourth. Hazard created five chances for his teammates in the game while Costa took his tally to 20.

Chelsea took a big step towards the championship after beating Southampton. Photo: Reuters.

Conte brought on John Terry late in the game, a week after the Chelsea captain announced he would leave at the end of the season. It was the former England centre-back's first Premier League start since November last year. Terry is the top-scoring defender in Premier League history and another Chelsea defender, Gary Cahill, also scored. However, it was not a perfect performance from the home side's defence.

They had two situations where their positioning in the box led to goals for their opponents. In addition, Southampton also created problems in some counter-attack situations when Matic and Kante did not make accurate interceptions. On a day when the attack played well, the mistakes of the defense will be less mentioned. But if Costa and Hazard are silent, Chelsea will be in trouble if the defenders make mistakes even against weaker teams.

This is a very important victory for Chelsea, helping them move one step closer to the championship. Nine days after losing to Man Utd, a result that revived Tottenham's hopes of chasing, Conte's team won a convincing victory and forced their opponents to earn all three points in the match against Crystal Palace, a team that has beaten Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea recently, early tomorrow morning.

Having beaten Southampton, this weekend's trip to Everton is seen as Chelsea's final test. In three of their last four games of the season, Chelsea will play at home against weak teams Middlesbrough, Watford and Sunderland. The remaining game is an away trip to West Brom.

According to VNE