English Premier League preview: Spotlight on fiery Costa in Chelsea-Liverpool

With 24 bookings in two-and-a-bit seasons, moody Chelsea striker Diego Costa is used to living on the edge in English football.

And nowhere is his brittle temperament seemingly put to the test more than in matches against Liverpool.

A stamp on Emre Can that earned Costa a retrospective three-match ban. The numerous bust-ups with Martin Skrtel. The forehead-on-forehead confrontation with Steven Gerrard. It doesn't take much to rile Costa but there's something about Liverpool that really fires up the often-pilloried Spain international.

So expect plenty of scrutiny on Costa when the two teams meet in the latest Friday-night fixture in the English Premier League, which is the highlight of the fifth round of games.

The debate is on regarding Costa: Will he finish the season with more goals than yellow cards? It's a close-run thing at the moment.

He is back to his best in front of goal, netting four goals in four games in Chelsea's unbeaten start to the league campaign that has seen the team earn 10 points from a possible 12. In the 2-2 draw against Swansea on Sunday, Costa scored both of Chelsea's goals and was almost impossible to keep down.

Costa is also keeping match officials busy by getting three yellow cards, and ran the risk of seeing those turn into red with a studs-first challenge against West Ham and by throwing himself theatrically to the ground against Watford and Swansea.

Costa, put simply, is never far from a flashpoint.

"If you are in a friendly-game mood then you have no chance," Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said of Costa. "He is a real warrior on the pitch."

There's rarely a news conference with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte that doesn't involve a line of questioning on Costa. Conte says the striker is targeted - and it is easy to see why given Costa's inability to resist reacting to goading by opposition players.

"Diego is growing in these situations - in the last game he showed great attitude," Conte said Thursday. "He is passionate but I want him to put his passion into the football in the right way."

It's one of the many subplots in what could be a thrilling game under the Stamford Bridge lights, considering the start to the season made by Chelsea and Liverpool.

Liverpool has scored four goals in each of its wins over both Arsenal and Leicester, and also gained a point from a draw at Tottenham. Aside from a disappointing 2-0 loss at Burnley, Klopp's side has been impressive - especially the fluid forward line of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and new signing Sadio Mane.

Only Manchester City, which has won all four of its games, has more points than Chelsea so far this season.

And if Costa shows passion on the field, Klopp and Conte are possibly the most animated Premier League coaches on the touchline. Like in last weekend's Manchester derby when Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho went head to head, there could be as much focus on the coaches' technical area as on the field at Stamford Bridge.

More: friv

Liverpool: Injury bug is Jurgen Klopp’s constant companion

Liverpool had four players unavailable and a few more had to be benched because of nagging injuries, when the Reds beat Arsenal on Sunday. After years and years of Klopp facing injury crises, there is more to it than just bad luck.

During the preseason many Liverpool players picked up knocks with varying degree of severity, but Klopp pointed at the depth of his squad. “We needed to strengthen and we’ve done that. The situation with the keeper and the centre-backs in preseason hasn’t been too cool but this season we will be able to react better,” he told the Echo a few days ago.

In fact, Liverpool have been able to broaden their squad, as they secured the services of Loris Karius, Sadio Mané, Georginio Wijnaldum, Ragnar Klavan, Joel Matip, Juanma and Alex Manninger, while the likes of Martin Skrtel, Joe Allen, Brad Smith, Jordon Ibe, Kolo Touré and Jose Enrique left Anfield. However, that can’t fully hide the injury issues that have again occurred under Klopp’s watch.

It is not the first time that the German coach has struggled with injuries. It all started in 2012. After winning the domestic title twice with Borussia Dortmund, Klopp faced the unavailability of many players throughout the next season. Despite reaching the Champions League final, BVB weren’t as competitive over the course of a 10-month season than the years prior. Transfermarkt lists all the injuries of that particular season here and of the even worse 2014-15 season here.

Media reports have suggested that Klopp and his then staff member Oliver Bartlett, a highly regarded English fitness coach, disagreed on the intensity of training. Bartlett left Dortmund in 2012 and begun to work for Roger Schmidt at Red Bull Salzburg and Bayer Leverkusen, where Bartlett has been able to keep most of the squad healthy even though the respective teams have played a high volume pressing style.

The very out-spoken former Wales coach Raymond Verheijen, who has a history of attacking the training methods used by some Premier League clubs, insisted that Klopp’s training methods would ‘destroy players’. A month ago, Verheijen described in detail three phases and warned that Liverpool could be about to enter an ‘injury crisis phase’, which eventually happened.

However, recent statements made by Klopp could hint at the change of mentality and reduction of the intensity of training in between matches. In addition, Liverpool have the luxury of sitting out of the Europa League. Leicester City showed last year how valuable a week of rest can be, while direct competitors have to play midweek.

“Remember the situation when Phil (Coutinho) had his first hamstring? He came back, we couldn’t give him time. He played five games and then … (was injured again),” Klopp explained recently. “Things like this shouldn’t happen this season. We can’t change the intensity of games. But it’s clear that we can change the intensity of a player’s training. If we can avoid situations like that we will do.”

It should be mentioned though, that Liverpool are not the only team struggling with injuries. Sunday’s opponent Arsenal, for instance, were also significantly weakened as many players have been left on the treatment table. So Klopp and his staff are not the only ones who need to reconsider training regimens and the length of recovery phases.

Skrtel set to complete Fenerbahce switch

Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel's eight-year stay at Anfield is close to an end with Fenerbahce putting the finishing touches to his transfer.

The Reds accepted a £5million bid for the Slovakia captain a couple of weeks ago, Press Association Sport understands, but the deal has been on hold because of the centre-back's involvement at Euro 2016.

Since Slovakia were eliminated by Germany negotiations have moved on and it is understood it only remains for personal details to be agreed for the transfer to be concluded.

The Istanbul club's president Aziz Yildirim told AMK Spor: "The (Gregory) van der Wiel and Skrtel transfers are almost done."

Skrtel, who made 320 appearances for Liverpool, fell out of favour last season after a hamstring injury sidelined him for three months in the middle of the campaign.

When he returned to fitness he struggled for form and veteran Kolo Toure - since released when his contract expired - was preferred for the Europa League final defeat to Sevilla.

Schalke defender Joel Matip's arrival on a free transfer and youngster Joe Gomez's return to fitness after knee ligament surgery reduced Skrtel's chances of first-team football and convinced the 31-year-old to move on.

Pulis: Gardner's challenge on Lovren bad? Watch Skrtel's

West Brom boss Tony Pulis felt there were worse challenges at Anfield on Sunday, including the Liverpool centre-back's dangerous tackle on Salomon Rondon

Tony Pulis insists there were "two worse fouls" than the one from Craig Gardner which forced Dejan Lovren to be stretchered off in West Brom's 2-2 draw with Liverpool, one of which involved Martin Skrtel.

Gardner caught the Liverpool centre-back on the knee with a heavy challenge in the second half of the Premier League game at Anfield, although he appeared to get the ball.

Lovren, who was bleeding from the knee, was taken from the pitch wearing an oxygen mask but Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said the defender "did not feel too bad" after the match and will face a scan to determine the extent of any damage.

However, Pulis felt both Skrtel and James Milner were guilty of worse tackles than Gardner however, telling the media afterwards: "For me there were two worse fouls.

"If you want to talk about bad fouls then what about James Milner on Gardner and Skrtel on Salomon [Rondon]? I saw the tape back and Gardner played the ball. The other two were bad - Skrtel went over the top and it's a good job Salomon moved."

Divock Origi scored from a deflected shot in the sixth minute of injury time - with Lovren's injury resulting in eight extra minutes being played - to deny West Brom a famous victory, and Pulis was left bitterly disappointed that his side could not hold on.

"I'm more disappointed that they made it 2-2. Irrespective of the power, the talent, the money, you get smaller clubs coming to places like Anfield and giving it a go," he added.

"This is a league where the small teams can do this. I'm just so disappointed we couldn't get the win.

"We've been hard-working, resilient and we gave it a go. Standing here, now, I feel disappointed. But credit to our fans, who were brilliant today."

Jonas Olsson - who scored West Brom's second goal - had an earlier effort ruled out for offside after referee Craig Pawson consulted his assistant following protests from some Liverpool players.

And Pulis said he plans to speak with the officials to ascertain the reasons behind their hesitancy.

"The big disappointment is that the linesman didn't put his flag up [at first]," he added. "They tell me he was offside so why not put the flag up? How will the referee decide if it's offside? 

"We will speak to the officials and find out. Apparently it was the right decision but it's disappointing the flag didn't go up - there was a lot of doubt and confusion about it.

"The referee pointed for a kick-off and I thought it was a goal but then it was disallowed."