WILLIAN THE CONQUEROR

Brazil star gave Barca the runaround and has finally won over Conte to become the main man for Chelsea

IT has always been a matter of trust between Antonio Conte and Willian.

Now, going into the most important month of Chelsea’s season, Conte has suddenly put all of his faith in the Brazilian.

Conte reshaped his formation to get the best out of the 29-year-old attacker against Barcelona, and is ready to do the same again as Chelsea face Manchester United, Manchester City, and a date at the Nou Camp in their next four matches.

Willian has become Chelsea’s main man for the run of games that will decide their season.

Eden Hazard has been asked to play the “false nine” role, which the Belgian admits does not suit his game, but it does allow Conte to get Willian and Pedro into his starting line-up.

Willian does not work as hard defensively as Pedro, and Conte felt he could not rely on him to track back. As a result, he has been a bit-part player since the Italian took over.

But the Blues boss (with Willian, right) now has two centreforwards, Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud, on the bench, and has challenged the Brazilian to maintain his level to stay in the team.

He has scored three times and hit the woodwork as often in the last two matches and said: “I’m always ready to score goals. I think the hat-trick is coming soon. I nearly scored one against Hull and against Barcelona.

“It is totally different to play in the Premier League to the Champions League. I think we can stay at this level, go to Old Trafford on Sunday, and play another great game. We have to play in a similar way (to the Barca match). “Manchester City like to have the ball. We have to stay compact and use the same plan we used against Barcelona. We can win these games. “We must also go to the Nou Camp. It will be totally different, but must play with the same mentality and prepare well. We can win the game there.” One issue for Conte is that Hazard, despite claiming he enjoys the role, admits he is not very well suited to it. He said: “I like the role as a ‘false nine’. In games like this, against a quality opposition (like Barca), it’s difficult. You don’t get a lot of balls.

“I might have touched 25 balls and 15 of them were flying toward my head. That’s not really playing with my qualities.

“On the wing, I feel more comfortable. That’s my place. We’re going to see how we will play in Barcelona. We have to give the maximum to win.”

Hazard insists the Blues can go through to the quarter-finals and added: “We have to attack. We have to defend well but, on top of that, we have to do better with the ball.

“We have lost some games this season that we wouldn’t have lost last year. That’s true.

“But the quality players are still in our squad. We lacked a little bit of luck against Barca.”