Antonio Conte frustrated by Diego Costa debate as Chelsea lose to Arsenal

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Vaishali Bhardwaj6 August 2017

Antonio Conte expressed his frustration at continued questions about Diego Costa after his replacement Alvaro Morata missed a penalty in Chelsea's Community Shield loss against Arsenal.

Costa has not featured for the Premier League champions since the 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to the Gunners at Wembley, with Conte revealing the striker was told by the club's hierarchy he would be allowed to leave back in January.

Costa, however, insisted he only found out he no longer features in Conte's plans via text in June before his lawyer launched a scathing attacking on the Chelsea manager and the club.

Standard Sport subsequently reported that the Blues are baffled by those comments as Costa continues to train by himself in Brazil ahead of a potential move away from the champions.

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On Sunday, the striker Chelsea signed to replace Costa - Morata - was given a late cameo against Arsenal but went on to miss a penalty as the Blues lost the game.

And when asked whether the Spain striker and Michy Batshuayi will be able to fill the void left by Costa this season, Conte seemed agitated at being faced with continued questions about the forward.

He told reporters: "I think I replied to this question. I hope in the future we have different questions about the squad, our striker and about this. I replied.

"My reply is always the same.

"Otherwise the things I tell you it must be a lie."