Costa’s punishment could have been even more severe had the referees spotted this maneuvre on Martin Skrtel.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa will miss his side’s top-of-the-table Premier League clash against Manchester City after losing his appeal against a charge of violent conduct, the English Football Association said on Friday.

The Brazilian-born Spain striker has been banned for three matches after treading down on Liverpool’s Emre Can in the first half of the League Cup semi-final, second leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. Chelsea, who are five points clear at the top of the table, will be without Costa for Saturday’s clash against Manchester City as well as games at Aston Villa and home to Everton.

Costa, who signed from Atletico Madrid last year, has scored 17 league goals for Chelsea with his combative approach ideally suited to the high tempo of English football.

But the 26-year-old’s physicality has ruffled a few feathers and he is not one to back down from confrontation with opponents. After Chelsea booked their place in the League Cup final thanks to a 2-1 aggregate victory over Liverpool, boss Jose Mourinho was adamant that Costa’s reputation was being tarnished by TV pundits.

“I don’t know what you understand by stamp. I think you are already influenced by — there is a campaign by a certain pundit that talks about Diego Costa’s crimes,” Mourinho told reporters. “What (broadcaster) Sky calls crime, it’s absolutely accidental.

“When you are there and you are paid and you are very well paid — these guys they have a very good seat, they are always right and they always win but they should be honest.”

Mourinho Vs Pellegrini

While Saturday’s game, however, could be decided by which players are absent as much as who is on the pitch. There is another sub-plot. The game also pitches game’s two hard nosed managers, who more often than not eem to rub each other up the wrong way. The simmering rivalry between Jose Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini is set for another chapter in Saturday’s clash.

Should Chelsea claim the spoils, they will lead the champions by eight points, while a City success would leave them just two points adrift with 15 games to play.

The bragging rights, however, also count double in battles between two coaches whose spiky relationship stretches back to their stints in charge of Real Madrid.

Pellegrini had only one season as coach at the Bernabeu, where, having failed to come out on top in the habitual two-horse race with Barcelona, he was replaced by Mourinho. The Chilean joined Malaga and Mourinho taunted him on the way out.

“If Madrid were to fire me, I wouldn’t go to Malaga. I’d go to a top-level team in Italy or England,” he had said.

The normally unshakeable demeanour of Pellegrini, one of football’s most sombre coaches, is clearly ruffled by the in-your-face ebullience of the self-styled “Special One”.

The corresponding fixture at Stamford Bridge last season ended with Fernando Torres scoring a late winner, Mourinho diving into the crowd and Pellegrini refusing to carry out the usual post-match etiquette. “I didn’t want to shake his hand,” he said tersely when asked whether he had gone to Mourinho at the final whistle.

While that battle went Mourinho’s way, the war was won by Pellegrini, who claimed the Premier League title and League Cup as the Portuguese ended the campaign empty-handed.

City, who have not won in the league since January 1, will have to discover how to beat teams without midfielder Yaya Toure whose involvement in the African Nations Cup has hit them hard and he will again be missing on Saturday. Also unavailable will be new signing Wilfred Bony, who is also involved in African Nations Cup duty.

Lampard’s return

Interestingly, the game also sees the return of City midfielder Frank Lampard to Chelsea, for whom he played for 13 years and where he is the club’s record scorer with 211 goals. Lampard came off the bench to score City’s equaliser against his former club in a 1-1 draw in September, and didn’t celebrate his goal.

Among the weekend’s other fixtures, Manchester United take on Leicester City and Liverpool play West Ham United on Saturday. Arsenal host Aston Villa on Sunday.