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Hughes: Costa employs 'the dark arts'

Reuters / Phil Noble Livepic

When Diego Costa is referred to by rival fans, choice four-letter words normally pepper their descriptions. For Stoke City manager Mark Hughes, Chelsea's pugnacious poacher is rather a purveyor of black magic.

Hughes, a hard-volleying frontman during his playing days, says he can understand the notion of winding up an opponent, but believes Costa's behaviour in Stoke's 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Saturday borders on Machiavellian.

"We didn't target Costa - he targeted our players if anything," claimed Hughes, as quoted by The Independent's Tim Rich. "I played in that position for many years and you have to react better than that. He is an outstanding striker, you can still have that edge, you can still look after yourself but that kind of behaviour, going over too easily and staying down when he wasn't hurt, doesn't help."

Hughes added: "He draws fouls and tries to make the most of contact when they are not fouls. He is adept at the dark arts and everyone in football recognises that."

The Potters boss' account of Costa is at odds with that of Chelsea gaffer Antonio Conte, who lauded his striker for "great discipline" during a match where he managed to stay out of the book after a 17th-minute yellow card for dissent.

Related: Conte hails Costa's 'great discipline' in Stoke strife

Instead, after Costa received some rough treatment from Bruno Martins Indi and Ryan Shawcross, Stoke's Phil Bardsley received his marching orders for a second bookable offence following an outing in which it appeared he'd been given a memo to irritate Costa.

Stoke ended a four-game unbeaten streak at home in the loss, and returns after the international break by travelling to a reinvigorated Leicester City on April 1.

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