Conte dismisses Costa criticism

The Chelsea striker is often in the news for his on-field antics and this season has been no exception.

In Chelsea's first game against West Ham, the Spain international lunged in on West Ham goalkeeper Adrian, a challenge which many people thought warranted a red card, but Costa got away with a yellow.

The striker was then in the headlines for the wrong reasons again in Chelsea's second game of the season. He received a first yellow card for dissent towards the referee, then should have possibly had another yellow card for an attempted dive.

Despite this, his manager has come to his defence.

"I don't understand that other players or managers or press all say bad [things] about him," he told reporters.

"Diego must be focused on the match. Because for me, the most important thing is the match - it's important to pay attention, because he is an important player and he can score a lot of goals and I want him to put himself in the game and not to think of other situations".

Conte did say, however, that he had spoken to his team about discipline.

"Have I spoken to him about it? Yes, I try to speak to all my players – all together and individually and its important to have these relations. But when I speak to them, I keep it between ourselves".