Eden Hazard
After captaining Belgium and finishing third at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, Eden Hazard has taken the Premier League by storm. It is not surprising to see a player of his calibre set the stage on fire as he has been Chelsea’s most consistent performer ever since moving to Stamford Bridge in 2012.
Chelsea have made a strong start to the season under new manager Maurizio Sarri, silencing all their critics following Antonio Conte’s departure. The Blues boast of a perfect record in the Premier League, with five wins out of five, and are one of the three teams that are still unbeaten – the other two being Liverpool and Manchester City.
The 4-1 drubbing of Cardiff City last weekend saw Sarri’s men climb to the top of the league table, edging out Liverpool on goal difference.
And one man who has been instrumental in Chelsea’s success so far is none other than Eden Hazard. To be fair, Sarri did a fantastic job by retaining the Belgian in the summer transfer window amidst interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid (h/t Express). After all, Hazard is Chelsea’s indispensable weapon in the final third and the former Napoli boss has been quite subtle with his man management.
Eden Hazard, who currently earns a staggering £200,000-a-week, had a long and tedious World Cup campaign with Belgium. As a result, Sarri did not field his most potent weapon right from the start. Instead, he chose to rest him for a couple of games and gradually eased him back to action.
Consequently, Hazard was able to conserve his energy and in the opening fixture against Huddersfield Town, the wizard tore apart the opposition in the last fifteen minutes with six successful take-ons. Sarri did not expose Hazard for more than thirty minutes against Arsenal but that was enough for the Belgian to cast his spell and turn the game on its head. Clearly, a player of Hazard’s calibre doesn’t necessarily need 90 minutes to make an impact.
Irrespective of whether Hazard plays to his potential or not, it is his mere presence on the field that seems to intimidate the opposition. He is Chelsea’s impact player and arguably the heartbeat of the team’s forward line.
In the subsequent games, Sarri used the Belgian as a regular starter and he proved his worth in each of the three games. After scoring the penalty against Newcastle and a late goal against Bournemouth, Hazard starred in the 4-1 thrashing of Cardiff City and scored the second hat-trick of his Chelsea career. Furthermore, the 27-year-old has also contributed with two assists so far.
Sarri’s aesthetic and free-flowing football involves short and quick passing. Suffice to say, it has brought the best out of Hazard. In the new Chelsea manager’s system, it is necessary for the players to make incisive runs behind the defenders and play one-twos with each other to link play in the final third.
Hazard has adapted brilliantly to Sarri’s philosophy and has used his positional intelligence and awareness to good effect. In Olivier Giroud, he has found the perfect target man to link up with. In fact, it was Giroud who set the Belgian up for his first two goals against Cardiff.
Given that Pedro and Giroud have performed exceptionally so far, it has taken the pressure off Hazard’s shoulders, allowing him to play his natural game.
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Hazard has already netted five times in the Premier League so far and he looks good for many more this season. He scored 16 goals when Chelsea won the Premier League in the 2016/17 season but the Golden Boot has eluded him somehow. However, Sarri has managed to extract the best out of his star man so far and this might just be the season where he picks up the coveted award.
He is the key cog in Chelsea’s engine and his performance should go a long way in deciding Chelsea’s fortunes in the Premier League.
