Costa told to kiss and make up with Conte as Roman aims to end spat

chelsea manager antonio conte expects Diego costa to be back at work this week after club owner Roman abramovich made it clear he wants the pair to kiss and make up — and he will not allow the striker to leave. costa and conte fell out when the stamford Bridge boss sided with a member of his medical staff over a back complaint from the forward. costa’s representatives have been trying to drum up interest in a move to china but that is unlikely with no formal offer on the table and chinese authorities closing the door on foreign signings. clubs were allowed three foreign players and one non-chinese asian but the quota is changing to just three foreigners in a bid to stem the flow of expensive imports. costa, whose chelsea contract expires in 2020, missed the 3-0 win at leicester after training alone for most of last week. conte played down the row and expects costa to be back for the Premier league game against hull on sunday. he also dismissed the threat of china, saying: ‘I think we’re a great club and it’s a great honour to play for chelsea. For this reason, I don’t see a threat from china for my players. ‘The money is not everything. ‘When you play for a great team like chelsea, you must be pleased with your situation. ‘The Premier league is really competitive. I think that it can attract every player because this league is the best in the world. ‘These offers from china are not a threat for our league. Money is not everything in football. I don’t worry about agents destabilising my players.’ costa stayed away from the King Power stadium as chelsea eased to victory over leicester and goalkeeper Thibaut courtois said the display showed that the Premier league leaders can continue to score and win without their 14-goal star striker. eden hazard started up front in place of costa as chelsea outclassed leicester, with Marcos alonso scoring twice before Pedro added a third. courtois said: ‘Diego is important for us but if he’s not there for one game, we know we can handle it as well.’ courtois said the emphatic result — after defeat at Tottenham in their last Premier league game earlier this month ended a 13-game winning streak — was a message to chasing rivals, who he believes are under more pressure than chelsea. ‘I think everybody hoped for us to drop points and we didn’t, so that was very good, he said. ‘We are clear at the top and the pressure is more on the other teams than on us.’