Stats show Costa and Firmino are Premier League’s most influential forwards of 2016 so far

Diego Costa is looking back to his best – and stats prove he is outperforming the rest of the Premier League’s big-name strikers in 2016.

The Chelsea forward had struggled in the first half of the season, scoring just four times up until Jose Mourinho’s sacking on 17 December.

But since the turn of the year, Costa has been involved in 10 of the Blues’ 19 goals, scoring six himself and laying on four.

Data compiled by Opta, published by fantasy football game Oulala, show that only Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino can match that in 2016 – while the likes of Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero lag behind.poP

Stats and infographic supplied by fantasy football game www.oulala.com