Swansea City v Chelsea: Blues boss Antonio Conte wants striker Diego Costa to channel his passion for good

ANTONIO CONTE has called on star striker Diego Costa to channel his passion in a way that benefits Chelsea, rather than get himself into any more bother.

The firebrand Spanish striker has scored twice in three Premier League games this season, but has also already been booked on two occasions – and could have been sent off for a horror tackle on West Ham ‘keeper Adrian in the Blues’ first game of the season.

Last campaign term he received 11 yellow cards and was sent off once in March in a 2-0 loss to Everton.

Chelsea travel to Swansea this afternoon looking to maintain their 100 per cent winning record from three games with Costa set to spearhead the attack - but similarly fiery Italian boss insists he must tread a fine line to not put the team in jeopardy.

Conte said: "Diego is a passionate man. For this reason he sometimes risks a yellow card.

"But I want him to improve in this aspect. I want to have Diego Costa in all the games. Diego knows the situation.

"I want him to play with the right passion and the right aggression. He must transfer his emotions on to the pitch in the right way. Always.

"I think that Diego is a good guy. He's a player who is very important for the team. I tell him: 'Transfer your passion and enthusiasm in the right way, and it's good for me'.

"I like it when a player shows his passion for this sport. It's fantastic. We do this work but, for us, it's not work it's a passion.

"It's important to transfer this to our fans and all the people who watch the game. For us, this is not work."

Costa, 27, has been criticised by Spanish media and fans for a perceived lack of impact on the international stage since switching allegiances from Brazil - but scored twice in midweek in an 8-0 World Cup qualifying win over Liechtenstein.

The forward has expressed his frustration at his treatment, but Conte maintains he must forget any grudges and not let it get the better of him.

He added: "Diego must think about playing football on the pitch and about playing with Chelsea, to play with the national team in Spain.

"It's important to be focused on the pitch and to leave the other situations. Those other situations are not interesting for him, for me, for Chelsea, for the fans or for the national team.

"I watched his game and he played a good game against Belgium and against Lichtenstein.

"It's normal, though, that if you are a forward and you score, you've had a fantastic performance.

"If you play well but don't score, people say the performance is not good. But Diego is a player who, in every game, puts all of himself into the game. I like this a lot."