Chelsea boss praises impact of substitutes in Watford victory

The Spain global scored an 87th-minute victor as the Blues came from behind to win 2-1 at Watford on Saturday – having also hit the decider late on in Monday’s defeat of West Ham.

Chelsea came from behind to secure all three points against Watford with Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi sealing a 2-1 Premier League win.

“He’s added fitness, against West Ham I felt really sharp and really fit, it’s one of the toughest pre-seasons I’ve done”, Cahill added.

Coupled with the inevitable settling-in period for any new regime, especially one new to a country, Mazzarri is understanding if his troops take a while to come up to speed with his methods. I want to see this, that all the players show me they deserve to start the game.

“When you don’t start the game (well), usually you’re not happy”.

“I don’t understand that other players or managers or press all say bad [things] about him”, Conte said. “We are a team that still has room to grow and there is margin for improvement”.

Costa has scored late winners in each of Chelsea’s opening two league games.

“I think that my experience, as a former player, helps me in this situation”, he said. “It won’t be easy but I’m pleased it happened”.

Etienne Capoue had given the Hornets a second-half lead before Batshuayi and Costa both struck in the final 10 minutes to extend Antonio Conte’s 100% start to the season.

The defeat means Walter Mazzarri is without a win since taking charge, following on from last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Southampton.

“We know he must pay attention in all situations because sometimes when many people talk about one player it’s hard for him to play in a relaxed way as he knows he’s always at the centre of attention”. We played very well. “But tonight I’m not going to sleep very well”. We were not focused at either goal. We could have played in a more simple way.

“We want to mix it with the best teams and we did [against Chelsea]”.