Costa Set To Miss City Clash After Violent Conduct Charge

CHELSEA face fielding a depleted side in Saturday’s Premier League summit clash with Manchester City after striker Diego Costa was last night charged for an alleged stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can.

Costa faces a minimum three-match ban if found guilty of violent conduct, after referee Michael Oliver was yesterday given the chance to view an incident he missed during Tuesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final.

That would see the Brazil-born Spain international miss the visit of City, Chelsea’s closest challengers at the summit of the top flight, as well as fixtures against Aston Villa and Everton.

He was not charged for another alleged stamp in the same game, on Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel, and has until 6pm today to respond to the charge. If he denies it, a hearing will take place tomorrow.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho defended his player after the tempestuous 1-0 win, insisting any contact with Can or Skrtel had been “absolutely accidental”.

He also issued a stinging rebuke to an unnamed Sky Sports pundit, understood to be Jamie Redknapp, accusing them of unfairly vilifying Costa, and then turned fire on Brendan Rodgers after being informed the Liverpool boss had described the incidents as “nasty”.

Mourinho had earlier been fined £25,000 by the Football Association for claiming that his team were suffering refereeing injustices because they were the victims of a “campaign” of negative coverage.

He made the comments after last month’s 1-1 draw against Southampton and reprised the theme after Tuesday’s success against Liverpool.