Chelsea will miss 'brilliant' Diego Costa and his mastery of the dark arts, claims Stoke manager Mark Hughes

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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.

Diego Costa was brilliant at pushing his luck to the edge before stepping back from the brink

The striker was booked 31 times in three seasons at Chelsea but was only sent off once

‘If you look at Costa, he was brilliant at taking it up to the edge, then stepping back, and it affected opposition teams. Maybe they haven’t quite got that ability in terms of getting the dark arts right.’

Costa was booked 31 times in three seasons at Chelsea but only sent off once.

Hughes, a combative striker himself, believes English football will miss Costa, who is set to complete his return to Atletico Madrid after a summer stand-off with Chelsea.

Chelsea will miss Costa's ability to wind up the opposition, as he did with Arsenal's Gabriel

‘It’s a shame from a football fans’ point of view, it’s a loss to the Premier League,’ Hughes said. ‘I used to enjoy watching him play because he had an edge to him and the reaction of other players to him was really interesting.

‘That’s a skill in itself. You can take it right to the line and then step back and get other people into trouble because they haven’t got that skill to stop where they should do.

‘Whatever happened or why it happened, maybe both (Chelsea and Costa) should have got together and got a real positive out of it. He’s a top player and the Premier League should have top players playing in it.’