Diego Costa: Linked with move to Chelsea this summer

The Blues' title quest suffered a significant blow on Saturday as they failed to break down Crystal Palace, losing 1-0 at Selhurst Park courtesy of a John Terry own goal.

The result prompted Jose Mourinho to rule his side out of the battle for top spot, while he was previously been caught on camera commenting: "I have a team but no striker."

None of Chelsea's forwards has managed double figures in the Premier League this season with Eden Hazard their top scorer with 14 goals.

This weekend saw the Blues replaced at the top of the table by a Liverpool side possessing a forward line of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez which boasts 49 goals between them, just 13 fewer than Mourinho's team have managed collectively.

Meanwhile, Costa has led Atletico Madrid's seemingly unlikely title charge with 25 La Liga goals to his name, a tally greater than Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba combined.

The Brazil-born Spain international has attracted a significant number of bets on his future in Sky Bet's Transfer Specials', with almost all stakes going on Chelsea being his next club.

Sky Bet's Head of Football Trading Paul Wiggins said: "We've seen an unusually high amount of bets on Costa joining Chelsea, especially given we're some way off the transfer window re-opening.

"We made Chelsea 5/2 favourites when we opened the market and they have been heavily backed over the weekend at odds as short as 4/7, forcing us to suspend the market."