Diego Costa believes a key reason Antonio Conte is succeeding at Chelsea where Jose Mourinho failed last season is because the players actually like him.

Conte took charge in the summer and has led Chelsea to the top of the Premier League table after 19 matches, with a massive 29 points more than they had at the same stage last term.

Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea 13 months ago when the club, who had won the title under the Portuguese in the previous campaign, were sitting just above the relegation zone.

Standard Sport revealed at the time that Costa was one of a number of players whose relationship had soured with Mourinho and following the latter’s dismissal, technical director Michael Emenalo confirmed there was “palpable discord” between the manager and his squad.

Conte’s change to a 3-4-3 formation in September has been put forward as the main reason for the dramatic turnaround in Chelsea’s fortunes, but Costa says a lot is due to the Italian’s warm coaching style.

He said: “I think it’s really important for managers to be liked by his players because ultimately on the pitch, those players will give everything for their manager.

“We have had a change of manager, he is working us hard, but people like him, which is important for everyone connected to the club because it creates a good atmosphere. Sometimes you have managers that have to be the boss, but this manager is a bit friendlier and there is closeness there.

“It is really important to have that at your workplace for you to come in and feel happy. You need a good atmosphere and a bit of fun.

“When a game comes around, that’s the time to be serious. During the week the training sessions are serious, but away from there, you have to relax and switch off.

“We are a family, we spend so much time together, we have to do things that bring us closer together because if not, everything will be too regimented, too professional and I don’t like that, it’s not for me.”

The Premier League defeats which cost Jose Mourinho his job at Chelsea 11 show all The Premier League defeats which cost Jose Mourinho his job at Chelsea 1/11 Jose Mourinho - the new Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has been appointed as Manchester United's new manager nearly six months after he was sacked as Chelsea's coach. Where, however, did it all go wrong for the Special One at Stamford Bridge? Scroll through the gallery to re-visit the key games that Mourinho's Chelsea side lost - which resulted in him leaving the club in December. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images 2/11 Manchester City 3 Chelsea 0, August 16 Jose Mourinho's side suffered their first defeat of the season as goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho sent Manchester City top of the table. The loss followed a home draw with Swansea on the opening day and left the Blues 16th. Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images 3/11 Chelsea 1 Crystal Palace 2, August 29 Chelsea suffered just their second home defeat in the Premier League under Jose Mourinho as Joel Ward's headed winner snatched three points late on. Radamel Falcao had cancelled out Bakary Sako's opener with a superb diving header, but Mourinho's men couldn't hold out for a point. Paul Gilham/Getty Images 4/11 Everton 3 Chelsea 1, September Everton marched past Chelsea as they dropped to 16th in the Premier League table with defeat at Goodison Park. Steven Naismith bagged a hat-trick as Nemanja Matic's impressive first-half strike could not prevent a third loss of the season. 5/11 Chelsea 1 Southampton 3, October 3 Chelsea's slump became something of a crisis as they suffered another home defeat. The Blues went in front through Willian, but Steven Davies, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle bit back with interest as the Saints grabbed their first win at Chelsea since 2002. The win prompted the Chelsea board to publicly back their under-fire boss. Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images 6/11 West Ham 2 Chelsea 1, October 24 Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic was dismissed in the first period and Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands as Andy Carroll dealt another blow to the Blues' stuttering season. Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images 7/11 Chelsea 1 Liverpool 3, October 31 Jurgen Klopp sealed his first away win in the Premier League as the pressure mounted on Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. Ramires had opened the scoring but an impressive Liverpool side were level just before the break through Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian then doubled his tally in the second period before Christian Benteke coolly wrapped up an impressive win. Clive Rose/Getty Images 8/11 Stoke 1 Chelsea 0, November 7 Jose Mourinho watched Chelsea's defeat to Stoke from a local hotel as he served a one-match stadium ban following his behaviour towards officials in the October defeat to West Ham. The Blues played some good football in the second half but Marko Arnautovic grabbed a winner at the back post to worsen the Chelsea boss' woes. Paul Ellis 9/11 Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 1, December 5 Chelsea struggled to break down Premier League newcomers Bournemouth in this early-December game at Stamford Bridge. Eddie Howe's men sat deep for much of the game but substitute Glenn Murray headed a late winner as the Cherries launched a rare counter. Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images 10/11 Leicester 2 Chelsea 1, December 14 Premier League leaders Leicester hammered the final nail into Jose Mourinho's coffin as Chelsea dropped to within a point of the relegation zone with defeat at the King Power Stadium. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez put the Foxes two goals up before Loic Remy's second-half header proved to be only a consolation goal. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images 11/11 Jose Mourinho sacked Chelsea finally parted ways with Jose Mourinho for the second time in December following a disastrous spell of nine Premier League defeats in their opening 16 games. Clive Mason/Getty Images 1/11 Jose Mourinho - the new Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has been appointed as Manchester United's new manager nearly six months after he was sacked as Chelsea's coach. Where, however, did it all go wrong for the Special One at Stamford Bridge? Scroll through the gallery to re-visit the key games that Mourinho's Chelsea side lost - which resulted in him leaving the club in December. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images 2/11 Manchester City 3 Chelsea 0, August 16 Jose Mourinho's side suffered their first defeat of the season as goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho sent Manchester City top of the table. The loss followed a home draw with Swansea on the opening day and left the Blues 16th. Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images 3/11 Chelsea 1 Crystal Palace 2, August 29 Chelsea suffered just their second home defeat in the Premier League under Jose Mourinho as Joel Ward's headed winner snatched three points late on. Radamel Falcao had cancelled out Bakary Sako's opener with a superb diving header, but Mourinho's men couldn't hold out for a point. Paul Gilham/Getty Images 4/11 Everton 3 Chelsea 1, September Everton marched past Chelsea as they dropped to 16th in the Premier League table with defeat at Goodison Park. Steven Naismith bagged a hat-trick as Nemanja Matic's impressive first-half strike could not prevent a third loss of the season. 5/11 Chelsea 1 Southampton 3, October 3 Chelsea's slump became something of a crisis as they suffered another home defeat. The Blues went in front through Willian, but Steven Davies, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle bit back with interest as the Saints grabbed their first win at Chelsea since 2002. The win prompted the Chelsea board to publicly back their under-fire boss. Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images 6/11 West Ham 2 Chelsea 1, October 24 Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic was dismissed in the first period and Jose Mourinho was sent to the stands as Andy Carroll dealt another blow to the Blues' stuttering season. Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images 7/11 Chelsea 1 Liverpool 3, October 31 Jurgen Klopp sealed his first away win in the Premier League as the pressure mounted on Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. Ramires had opened the scoring but an impressive Liverpool side were level just before the break through Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian then doubled his tally in the second period before Christian Benteke coolly wrapped up an impressive win. Clive Rose/Getty Images 8/11 Stoke 1 Chelsea 0, November 7 Jose Mourinho watched Chelsea's defeat to Stoke from a local hotel as he served a one-match stadium ban following his behaviour towards officials in the October defeat to West Ham. The Blues played some good football in the second half but Marko Arnautovic grabbed a winner at the back post to worsen the Chelsea boss' woes. Paul Ellis 9/11 Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 1, December 5 Chelsea struggled to break down Premier League newcomers Bournemouth in this early-December game at Stamford Bridge. Eddie Howe's men sat deep for much of the game but substitute Glenn Murray headed a late winner as the Cherries launched a rare counter. Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images 10/11 Leicester 2 Chelsea 1, December 14 Premier League leaders Leicester hammered the final nail into Jose Mourinho's coffin as Chelsea dropped to within a point of the relegation zone with defeat at the King Power Stadium. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez put the Foxes two goals up before Loic Remy's second-half header proved to be only a consolation goal. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images 11/11 Jose Mourinho sacked Chelsea finally parted ways with Jose Mourinho for the second time in December following a disastrous spell of nine Premier League defeats in their opening 16 games. Clive Mason/Getty Images

Chelsea are also benefitting from Conte’s intense fitness work in pre-season, which was in stark contrast to 12 months before when Mourinho asked the players to report back for duty later than any other Premier League club.

Costa, who was signed by Mourinho from Atletico Madrid for £32m in 2014, insists his former boss shouldn’t be held accountable for everything that went wrong last term.

However, he added on Chelsea TV: “It’s important to be right physically. The team is in good shape physically at the moment. Nowadays in football it’s key that a player is physically right.

“We had a great manager in Mourinho, who gave us a lot in that first season [when Costa first joined the club]. But last season, things just didn’t go well for us.

“We knew we had to change things, it wasn’t just the manager’s fault. We had to put in that bit more too.

“Also in terms of change, it has been a bit of everything: a new manager and wanting to win things because when you do, it’s wonderful and losing hurts.

“We have the backroom staff that he brought too and they have contributed to the good atmosphere, so the manager is great and we are all behind him.

“We have got to know him properly now and while at first some people might not have liked some of the changes, now he is getting results and convincing people.”

The players on Chelsea’s transfer shortlist 16 show all The players on Chelsea’s transfer shortlist 1/16 The players on Chelsea's wishlist... Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images 2/16 Alexis Sanchez | Arsenal Arsenal FC via Getty Images 3/16 Alex Sandro | Juventus Getty Images 4/16 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Arsenal Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 5/16 Ross Barkley | Everton Getty Images 6/16 Djibril Sidibe | AS Monaco AFP/Getty Images 7/16 Virgil van Dijk | Southampton Getty Images 8/16 Adama Traore | Middlesbrough 9/16 Cedric Soares | Southampton Getty Images 10/16 Ryan Bertrand | Southampton Ian Walton/Getty Images 11/16 Mousa Dembele | Celtic Getty Images 12/16 Fernando Llorente | Swansea Getty Images 13/16 Marco Verratti | PSG AFP/Getty Images 14/16 Faouzi Ghoulam | Napoli Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images 15/16 Danny Drinkwater | Leicester City Getty Images 16/16 Renato Sanches | Bayern Munich Bongarts/Getty Images 1/16 The players on Chelsea's wishlist... Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images 2/16 Alexis Sanchez | Arsenal Arsenal FC via Getty Images 3/16 Alex Sandro | Juventus Getty Images 4/16 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Arsenal Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images 5/16 Ross Barkley | Everton Getty Images 6/16 Djibril Sidibe | AS Monaco AFP/Getty Images 7/16 Virgil van Dijk | Southampton Getty Images 8/16 Adama Traore | Middlesbrough 9/16 Cedric Soares | Southampton Getty Images 10/16 Ryan Bertrand | Southampton Ian Walton/Getty Images 11/16 Mousa Dembele | Celtic Getty Images 12/16 Fernando Llorente | Swansea Getty Images 13/16 Marco Verratti | PSG AFP/Getty Images 14/16 Faouzi Ghoulam | Napoli Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images 15/16 Danny Drinkwater | Leicester City Getty Images 16/16 Renato Sanches | Bayern Munich Bongarts/Getty Images

Chelsea are already firm favourites to win the title this term and will set a new top-flight record of 14 successive wins in a single season if they beat rivals Tottenham tomorrow night.

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