Chelsea forward Costa suspended for three matches

On Tuesday the FA announced Chelsea’s appeal against the three-match ban Costa received following his clash with Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny had been rejected by an Independent Regulatory Commission.

As the game approached half-time, Costa appeared to twice rake his hands across Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny’s face before chest-bumping him to the ground. Both players were then issued yellow cards for the fracas before Gabriel was sent off with a red card for a backward flick of his boot at the Chelsea striker.

“We are extremely disappointed with the FA Regulatory Commission’s decision to suspend Diego Costa“.

Chelsea are still waiting for the FA’s written reasons over Costa’s ban, but have already considered demanding an arbitration hearing over the case if they are not satisfied by the reasons given.

The French striker has played just eight minutes in the Premier League so far this season as Jose Mourinho has preferred Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao up front, and Remy is finding it hard to settle for his current role.

Costa was found guilty of violent conduct during Chelsea’s 2-0 Premier League win over their London rivals on Saturday.

Mourinho said: “We know something which is that retaliation is allowed now”.

Mourinho expressed his dismay at the decision after Chelsea’s League Cup win over Walsall on Wednesday night but held back on his comments for fear of being suspended himself.

“It’s easier to accept an injury but this kind of situation goes much more deeper in feelings and the team is hurt”, he said. Imagine if we go to Walsall without any one of our most important players – even if they won I don’t think the feeling would be the same.

Ahead of the game he said: “I’m surprised at them because they are quite a big, strong team”.

“I don’t play, score goals, tackle, recover balls for my team, but on the bench my communication is positive and after losing a player I don’t want the team to lose a manager as well”.