Diego Costa reportedly asked to be taken off as he was frustrated with manager Antonio Conte

Chelsea fans were confused on Saturday when, after around 70 minutes of the club's 3-0 victory over Leicester City, Costa signalled to the bench that he wanted to be taken off.

It was assumed at the time that Costa, who is the Premier League's top scorer this season with seven goals, had picked up a knock or wanted to avoid a booking that would see him incur a suspension and miss the game against Manchester United on Sunday.

However a report from the Mirror says that Costa was irritated by what he perceived as criticism from Conte for his performance.

There was no indication from the report as to whether or not Conte will be acting in a similar vein to former Blues' boss Jose Mourinho when a similar event happened last season.

Costa and Mourinho clashed during a Champions League game away against Maccabi Tel-Aviv, with the manager dropping the forward for the next game.