Bring back Diego Costa and he'll make Chelsea great again - Crouch

The title challenge won’t happen this year. For all that the early signs under Maurizio Sarri were good, Chelsea are going to see the three teams ahead of them disappear into the distance.

But after watching their 0-0 draw with Southampton earlier this week, I have concerns about whether they will mount a proper title challenge next season, too.

My worry stems from one revealing number in the table.

Chelsea have scored the fewest goals of the top six sides. A return of 38 from 21 matches isn’t enough to win you a title, no matter how good your defence is. The one thing you need is someone to score you 30 goals and they do not have a player like Harry Kane, Mo Salah or Sergio Aguero.

Not so long ago, they did. Diego Costa would absolutely transform Chelsea’s fortunes and, if it was down to me, I’d break the bank to re-sign him.

You can talk about Gonzalo Higuain or Karim Benzema, but I think Costa would be the one to take Chelsea where they want to be.

There was something about the way Costa’s career finished at Stamford Bridge that doesn’t sit right. I know there were huge problems between him and Antonio Conte, but even so, it seemed like they didn’t put up any kind of fight to keep him.

Costa is a striker with everything and someone I used to study at great length.

Yes, he is a good bit younger than me, but in this profession you can never stop learning and I would watch footage of him — and Kane, for that matter — to see how it could help me. Some might not like his aggressive style but to see him play is compelling.

Ryan Shawcross, my team-mate at Stoke, said he used to love facing Costa as he knew from the first minute it would be a fight and he would be taken to the limits physically. Costa gave it, but he could also take it.

He could also score. When Chelsea won the title in 2015 under Jose Mourinho, Costa was formidable. He was even better in 2017 when Conte turned them into champions again.

Had he been available to Sarri for 2019, who knows what might have happened?

Brilliant strikers don’t tend to come along too often at Stamford Bridge. If you think about it, the names that should come to your mind are Peter Osgood, Kerry Dixon and, most recently, Didier Drogba.

Drogba was sensational, one of the best strikers to play in the Premier League.

He was like a one-man army at times in those Chelsea-Liverpool games, going back 15 years. Of all the signings made to establish Chelsea in the Roman Abramovich era, none had more influence than Drogba.

Yet Chelsea, I believe, are synonymous with flair players, those who provide craft and guile and goals.

Eden Hazard is doing it for them now, following in the footsteps of Arjen Robben, Damien Duff, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Gianfranco Zola.

In years to come, Christian Pulisic, their new signing, could be held in the same esteem.

I have seen a lot of Pulisic and he’s impressed me for a long time. Chelsea’s business to get him signed up for next season already looks smart.

What they need more than anything, however, is the focal point that Drogba, for example, provided. I like Olivier Giroud, and Alvaro Morata is a forward with great technical gifts, but it just does not seem to be happening for him in England. I’m not sure it is going to, either.

For some players, it just doesn’t work in the Premier League.

Morata has had some good moments, but not the kind you would expect from someone who arrived for such a big price and it was revealing yesterday to hear Zola — who is now Sarri’s assistant — admit that the Spaniard is suffering a crisis of confidence.

There is nothing a striker can experience that is worse — trust me, I know — but he has to keep working.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned Callum Wilson, who is doing so well for Bournemouth, as having the potential to be a Chelsea player, but whether they actually press ahead and give him the opportunity remains to be seen. Given time, he could flourish. If Chelsea want to get back to the top of the table, though, they need an individual who can make the difference.

Hazard is brilliant but there continue to be doubts about his long-term future and, regardless, he is not a centre forward.

Sarri needs one for his team to progress. Costa might be happy in Madrid, but if the only reason he went to Spain was Conte, hasn’t that problem been solved?

All the top teams have a 30-goal assassin. Chelsea need one now more than ever.

Replacing Ramsey will cost Arsenal a fortune

No situation with a player has confused me more this season than Arsenal and Aaron Ramsey.

I said in August that it made no sense to let him leave.

Here we are in January, he keeps playing and making a contribution and my view hasn’t changed.

Juventus and Bayern Munich are among the clubs who are looking to take him when his contract expires and I think that gives you the best indication of how highly regarded he is.

These are giants, not some run-of-the-mill team looking to make a statement. You can be sure, though, that Juventus and Bayern Munich will not be alone. Ramsey is in his peak years. Yes, he will command good wages, but when you see how Xherdan Shaqiri has done for Liverpool — his transfer fee of £13million was peanuts — taking Ramsey for free is a no-brainer.

Arsenal, clearly, have made their minds up, but they also made a rod for their own back when agreeing to give Mesut Ozil such a huge new contract 12 months ago. That is the benchmark wage and every player in the dressing room will know how to push their own negotiations.

It will be Arsenal’s loss when Ramsey goes because it will cost them a fortune in terms of a transfer fee and wages to find someone of comparable ability. He, however, will look at it as a great opportunity and a new start will give him a new lease of life.

Gareth Bale thrived when he left the Premier League and it would not surprise me if Ramsey did the same. Whoever signs him will be getting a top-class performer.

Stevie G's a perfect fit for Rangers

I have always tried to watch Celtic play Rangers whenever possible and I made time to watch the latest instalment last week.

What a game it turned out to be for Steven Gerrard, who is quickly making a mark in his second career.

Rangers have been bossed by Celtic in Old Firm derbies for so long, but last Saturday they were absolutely deserved winners. They totally dominated from the start and the final score did not reflect the performance Rangers produced.

I hold Steven in such regard that I devoted a chapter to him in my book. If anyone wants to be a footballer, they should go back and watch how he went about his business.

Going to Rangers was a big call but the pressure up in Glasgow will hold no fears for him.

You can see how much he is enjoying it. There has been no let-up in the schedule since he started work in June, but he has given the squad an overhaul. Simply by being Steven Gerrard, he has made Rangers an attractive destination — how could you not want to go and work under him? That point was proven in the last couple of days.

He has made a great signing this week in the 18-month deal for Jermain Defoe and I can see him scoring a bucket-load in Scotland. If it all clicks, it will certainly keep Rangers in the hunt for the title.

Jermain is a great lad, one of the best strike partners I played alongside, and he will make a tremendous impact at Ibrox.

Should things continue to go well — and I don’t see why they won’t — in the long-term, I could envisage Steven ending up back at Liverpool.

If he can make a club as big as Rangers successful, he would be an ideal candidate to succeed Jurgen Klopp.

What an advert for our league!

Manchester City versus Liverpool did not disappoint. What an advert for our league! All action with some top performances on both sides.

From the word go, I thought City looked like the team who knew they had to win whereas Liverpool looked like a team who didn’t want to get beaten. Saying that, Liverpool were always a danger and how John Stones made that clearance, I don’t know. I still can’t believe it didn’t go in.

Fernandinho, rightly, has been singled out for praise. He was immense and has been one of City’s most consistent players for a while now. But I thought the difference were City’s wingers. Leroy Sane scored the winner, but Raheem Sterling was the biggest threat.

Every time I watch him, I feel he has improved. He is turning into a top, top player. Having said that, both Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold managed to get forward and have an influence. Watching the battle between those four made a match of great interest compelling viewing.