United beware false hope; Costa already a bargain for Chelsea: Premier League talking points

Paul Radley delivers his observations from the fourth round of English Premier League action, warning Manchester United fans not to draw too much from a win over QPR and marvelling at Diego Costa's productivity.

Diego Costa has scored seven goals in four Premier League matches for Chelsea this season. Paul Gilham / Getty Images

QPR dawns can be false

If ever a team needs a guaranteed, fail-safe pick-me-up, a home game against Queens Park Rangers usually does the trick.

It has worked for Burton Albion, an English fourth-tier side who beat them in the League Cup, already this season.

For all the optimism engendered in their 4-0 hammering of QPR, Manchester United supporters need to beware. Rangers similarly made Tottenham Hotspur look like Real Madrid a few weeks earlier.

If you want to gauge whether the revival really has started, better benchmarks than Harry Redknapp’s side are to be had.

Unlikely party starters

“The feel-good factor is there at the minute,” a gushing Paul Lambert said after his Aston Villa side’s 1-0 victory at Liverpool. “We’re doing really well.”

OK, so it is not exactly Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. But in Lambert-speak, that equates to: bring out the bunting, let’s have a party.

The gruff manager generally has overseen lean times in his stint at Villa Park, yet an upswing so far this season is tangible.

Which has coincided with him appointing the famously miserable Roy Keane as his assistant, and them both growing scraggly grey beards. Peculiar.

Foster fights the bad fight

Picking a row with your own fans is rarely a good idea. If it needs to be done, though, presumably you would be wise to do it from a position of power, rather than just having waved one through in another listless defeat.

Ben Foster did not pull any punches when defending his West Bromwich Albion teammate Chris Brunt from supporter abuse after the 2-0 loss to Everton.

“It’s not needed,” the Albion and England goalkeeper said of boos aimed at Brunt. “It is really silly. It’s pathetic.”

Maybe the fans will turn their ire on him, instead, next time, given his schoolboy error in letting in Kevin Mirallas’ powder-puff shot.

Costa’s have spiralled

Diego Costa became only the second player to score in his first four Premier League games when he struck for three goals in Chelsea’s victory over Swansea City.

The Brazil-born Spain striker looks a bargain for the £32 million (Dh191m) Roman Abramovich shelled out for him this summer.

It is a world away from the early days of the Premiership. Micky Quinn, a burly striker who never played an international match, was the other player to score in his first four games, in 1992, the first season of the revamped division.

Quinn, however, did not command Costa-scale money. Coventry City picked him up for £250,000.

Lukaku’s landmark moment

It is not just Costa’s price tag that shows how the financing of English football’s top division has altered over the past two decades.

At least Costa is owned by the team he plays for. When Romelu Lukaku scored for Everton against West Bromwich Albion, it was his 33rd goal in English football.

Nothing too remarkable there – until you weigh in the fact it was the first the Belgian forward had struck for the club who actually owned him.

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