Diego Costa looks reborn under Guus Hiddink - Three goals in two games so far!

I'll say it now, Diego Costa looks reborn under Guus Hiddink and with three goals in two games so far, it's so nice to see him focus on just the football playing with a smile on his face!

What a difference a month makes! Booed by your own fans, refusing to acknowledge the supporters after games just walking off the pitch and looking like a shadow of his former self, Diego Costa looks like a totally different player.

Some people will make comment or opinion that he never walked over to the fantastic travelling support after the game yesterday with the others. He did however acknowledge the fans twice from a distance. Let's not forget he was being made a scapegoat for reported dressing room unrest and to have your own supporters boo you in your own stadium is hard to forget.

What Diego Costa has done in the time that has followed is listen to Guus Hiddink and their conversation seems to have literally worked wonders.

Think of Costa up to the point that Mourinho was sacked and you think of him not making the runs he made last year, you think of him constantly drifting out wide and not making the right moves into the danger areas of the box to get on the end of things. Most of all, Costa would be looking for a fight or at least a ruck with someone on the opposition, reacting to a tackle with that scary expression on his face as if he would kill you!

Look at him against Palace! The work rate was there, the movement was there, he popped up in the right areas to make telling contributions for two of our three goals and played with a smile on his face.

Yes, he was clattered from behind on more than one occasion but did he respond by grabbing the culprit around the throat or cursing at him nose-to-nose? No, he had a moan at the Referee but then dusted himself down, got up and carried on with the game.

Most importantly of all, Costa was playing within the width of the penalty box and focused his runs and his possession in that area. We never saw him hug the touchline at all. If we did find him out there, he made a point to either work his way back into the box with the ball by taking on defenders or to lay the ball off and get into the middle and wait for the ball to played into him.

This is much, much better from Costa and we have to believe that his three goals in two successive games for him will give him so much confidence now heading into the second part of the season.

Credit the manager for whatever he has said to him because it's obvious to all of us that it's worked a treat!