

Brazilian striker Diego Costa is an acquired taste, either you love him or you hate him but you will never be able to ignore his presence. His contribution to the Blues goes way beyond what he is able to do on the field, Costa is also a great example for many of the young strikers who train alongside him every day. For Italian manager Antonio Conte, having Costa teaching people like Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi is an unmatched luxury.
Conte can already see how Michy has improved next to Costa: "The confidence for Michy must be high because he is a young player. For me he has shown great improvement. He has great ability and the technical aspect and the physical aspect. He can grow a lot and is working very well. I have full confidence in him and I am sure that if Michy plays [against West Ham] he will play a good game.
"For sure [he can learn from Costa] because when you are in a great team and you have the possibility to work every day with a great player and learn a lot of things it is positive for him. Michy has great potential in the physical and technical aspect and we trust a lot in him. He must continue to work and to exploit the moment when he plays."
Conte also talked about other players who are not fit yet: "For Ivanovic, he is better because he started to train with us from yesterday, also today. He needs a bit of time to find the right shape to come back in. For Cesc, he is still not well. We must wait because he had a muscular problem and we are waiting. We must be patient because the muscular problem is with his thigh. We hope to see him soon with the team and in a training session.
"I'm pleased because Zouma is a young player but is a good player. I hope to see him very, very soon - very soon for me is when we start the training session after West Ham. I hope he can work with us then. I am very happy that yesterday he played with the Under-23s. He had a good reaction in a physical aspect after the game. Willian is at a [better] moment now… before the moment wasn't good but now, he is a fantastic man, we love him," he said. "We need him as a fantastic man and a fantastic player."
Photo credit: Michy Batshuayi