Antonio Conte describes Diego Costa as "the best striker in the world"

Antonio Conte has backed Diego Costa to upstage Everton's Romelu Lukaku on Sunday and to guide Chelsea to Premier League glory this season.

The Toffees forward, who has been linked with a return to Stamford Bridge, tops the league scoring charts with 24 goals and will be hoping to sink the Blues at Goodison Park.

However, Chelsea boss Conte has suggested that 19-goal striker Costa is better than Lukaku, calling the Spain international "the best striker in the world".

"For sure, Lukaku's a good player because he showed in this different season that he scored a lot of goals," the Italian told Sky Sports News.

"He's a good guy but for us Diego is a very important player and, in this part of the season, he will be decisive for us. I hope it will be Diego who decides Sunday's game because that means we win the game.

"We are talking about two great strikers. But you know that Diego, for me, is the best striker in the world. I hope he will be decisive in this game and from now on until the end of the season."

Costa has scored 56 goals and registered 23 assists for Chelsea since his 2014 move from La Liga giants Atletico Madrid.