HAZARD IS A BIG GAME SPECIALIST
GIVEN that Chelsea are so good as a unit, it’s hard to single out an individual, but Eden Hazard was outstanding on Saturday. When you play the big games, you want your big players to step up. That’s exactly what he did.
The contrast with Mesut Ozil was unavoidable. The bigger the game, the better Hazard plays.
For Ozil, despite his record as a World Cup winner and a La Liga champion at Real Madrid, you feel it’s the opposite.
Of course, it’s important not to forget how poor Hazard was last season. But whatever the reason for that, whether he thought he might be moving or an issue with Jose Mourinho, or whether he was fatigued after the World Cup, he has returned to being the player who was the star of the Premier League in 2014-15. Over the course of his career, it seems 2015-16 was an aberration.
His goal was wonderful but throughout he was excellent.
Antonio Conte praised his back-tracking and work for the team. But he has that magical ability to change a game.
He beat Laurent Koscielny twice for his goal, and that’s a defender I rate highly. Koscielny should have blocked or obstructed him on the halfway line and not allowed him to get away.
Once he has you face on, bearing down on goal, he can destroy the best defenders with his quick feet.
It may all be over
You can never say for sure that the league is done and dusted in early February, but that’s what it felt like on Saturday.
The Premier League title feels like it’s heading back Chelsea’s way. There may yet be a twist or a turn. They still have to go to Manchester United and Everton, while Manchester City will come to Stamford Bridge. But those games are in April. Chelsea could easily be uncatchable by then. They may be able to take a draw in all of those games.
I thought it would be closer than this; that the intensity of the battle in the top six would cause Chelsea to drop points. Though they did at Tottenham and Liverpool, the five challengers haven’t been good enough to exploit it.
When Chelsea went into the Spurs game last month, they were only five points clear. After losing and drawing a game since then, they are now nine points clear.
Star turns
There were stars all over the pitch for Chelsea. Remember the raised eyebrows and sceptical noises when David Luiz returned on deadline day? All the old criticisms were revived: he can’t defend, he is a liability. But since Antonio Conte switched to a back three, he’s barely made a mistake. They look so solid. And Luiz can hit passes, change the play.
The balance and shape of the team is near perfect. Chelsea are exciting to watch with the ball but have a steeliness.
N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic are immense. They allow the back three to thrive because they give you so much solidity. They’re powerful, they win the ball back but can manipulate the ball as well. It’s hard to find many better players in that position in the world and Chelsea have two.
All systems go
Chelsea’s back three is the right system for this moment. I remember watching the Arsenal game in which they lost 3-0 and they switched to a back three then. I said in commentary I was pretty sure they would start the next game that way and they did, embarking on their run.
Having been a fan of that system all my coaching life, I’m delighted to see it thrive. Most teams have started to play with a back four which is stretched to the hilt: full-backs push on so high and centre-halves are often left in situations where it’s two-on-two and they’re stretched.
With a back three, you have the stability of the extra central defender which has proved so crucial and means you’re rarely stretched. And in Chelsea’s system, Luiz picks up the ball from deep and is moving forwards to deliver it. Which means the team quickly switches to attack mode.
As for Arsenal, it’s an awful time to hit this run of form.
They have Bayern Munich around the corner, as well as a rejuvenated Hull at the Emirates today. You can imagine how toxic the atmosphere will be if it goes badly.
Timing is everything in football. And this run of games and poor form coming at such a crucial juncture of the season will make the next few weeks very ugly for the club and for Arsene Wenger, a great manager, unless it turns around quickly. – Daily Mail