Hazard has the last laugh
Eden Hazard, centre, celebrates after scoring the first goal for Chelsea against Newcastle on Sunday. Chelsea star responds to rough treatment by Newcastle with a goal
Eden Hazard was repeatedly fouled, shoved and hacked down on his first start of the season in the Premier League. On one occasion, he was even kicked off the field by a particularly crude challenge.
So the Chelsea forward responded in the best way possible to being targeted with rough treatment: By scoring a goal.
Hazard converted a 77th-minute penalty to set Chelsea on its way to a 2-1 win at Newcastle in an embarrassingly one-sided game at St. James’ Park, and a third straight victory to open the season.
The three points were only secured for Chelsea because of an 88th-minute own-goal by Newcastle defender DeAndre Yedlin, but few could begrudge Chelsea the win. And Hazard, in particular. “I feel very tired,” Hazard said, with a wry smile, after being asked about his treatment by Newcastle’s players. “But at the end, we won the game.”
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri had suggested Hazard might only play an hour, with the Belgium international working his way back to full fitness after a late return following his exertions at the World Cup in Russia.
As it turned out, Hazard played the full 90 minutes against Newcastle and was like a magnet for the ball — and for tough tackles by Newcastle players. Mohamed Diame chopped him down twice in the first half, and one foul by Matt Ritchie bundled Hazard off the playing surface and toward the advertising hoardings.
Hazard had the last laugh, though, and is set to thrive in the attacking, possession-based approach that Chelsea is adopting under Sarri.
Chelsea enjoyed 79 per cent possession in the first half. At one stage in the second half, the percentage soared to 90 with Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez seemingly having told his players to retreat when Chelsea had possession.
“I have never seen a Rafa Benitez side play with five defenders,” said Sarri, who replaced Benitez as coach of Italian side Napoli in 2015.
“I think it is very difficult to play here for every team — not only us.”
Still, it needed a stroke of fortune for Chelsea to come away with a third win, after previous victories against Huddersfield and Arsenal. Yedlin, who set up Joselu for the equalizer in the 83rd minute, stretched his leg out to block a shot from Marcos Alonso in the 88th and contrived to divert the ball into his own net.
Newcastle has one point from three games. Fulham 4, Burnley 2: When Jean Michael Seri spectacularly fired in his first Premier League goal for Fulham, he surprised more than just the fans watching at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
“He surprised all of us,” said Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic after his reported 25 million pound ($32 million U.S.) signing struck after only four minutes against Burnley. “We expected he would make some assists but not score such a fantastic goal.”
The long-range effort from outside the area left Burnley goalkeeper Joe Hart clutching at thin air and triggered a breathless first half. Jeff Hen- drick hit back for the visitors before a double from Aleksandar Mitrovic and a tap-in for James Tarkowski made it 3-2 to Fulham at the break.
But it was Seri who stole the show, winning the ball back in midfield, dropping deep to pick up possession and controlling the tempo of the game.
“He is well suited to our style,” said Jokanovic. “He has interpreted how we want to play football, and he is one of the guys who is really comfortable in possession of the ball. Watford 2, Crystal Palace1: Watford pulled off something of a coup in 2016 in persuading Roberto Pereyra to swap potential Champions League glory with Juventus for life at a midtable Premier League side.
Two years later, the English club is starting to get a strong return for its investment.
Pereyra scored his third goal in three games this season to help Watford beat Crystal Palace Sunday, keeping up its 100 per cent start to the Premier League. It is only the fourth time in Watford’s 137-year history that the team has won its first three games of a league season, and the first time in the Premier League.