Mark Hughes is sorry to see the back of Diego Costa and has questioned whether Chelsea might also miss the Spain striker’s mastery of dark arts.
Chelsea have been given three red cards in five Premier League games after David Luiz was dismissed for a late lunge against Arsenal last Sunday.
The Stoke manager, whose side face Chelsea on Saturday, said: ‘I think they’ve got more sendings-off in the opening five games as in the whole of last year.
‘If you look at Costa, he was brilliant at taking it up to the edge, then stepping back, and it affected opposition teams.