Manuel Pellegrini gives his take on the Costa suspension

It's been a bad few weeks for Manuel Pellegrini. Three weeks ago, Manchester City was tied at the top of the table on everything but the order of the alphabet; since they've dropped five points to Chelsea's none and have lost back to back home matches against Arsenal and Middlesbrough, the latter dumping them out of the FA Cup. On top of that, his top midfielder is currently in Equatorial Guinea while his best striker's hamstrings are the soft tissue equivalent of a snowman sunbathing on Mercury.

So he could do with some good news, and might be forgiven for being overly smarmy when he receives it.

I think [Diego Costa is] a great player. His character is not easy but I hope for him that this punishment will be good for him to change a little bit in the future.

Source: Get West London.

I'm sure Diego will be taking your advice onboard, Manuel. Thanks for your concern!