EDEN YET TO REACH PEAK
<M<IP B@:B# <M<IP >F8C# <M<IP >8D< England warned
EDEN HAZARD will only get better, according to Chelsea boss Antonio Conte.
The Belgium playmaker dazzled again on Saturday, running Newcastle ragged and scoring twice.
Hazard will be the man England fear most for their World Cup clash. But worringly for Gareth Southgate, Conte says Hazard, 26, is just getting started.
Conte said: “I don’t think that Eden is at the peak of his career yet. I think he has a lot of improvement.
“He is a young player and it’s important for him to work, work, work in every training session to improve himself and then to have this kind of performance.
“You are at the top when you win the Ballon d’Or the first time, when you win the Champions League, when you win the Word Cup.
“At that moment you are at the top of the world, so you are a great player.
“The World Cup is the best tournament in the world.
“In this tournament, you can show your abilities and your skills and you can show that you are a top player.
“I think this is a great chance where every great player has to show his ability.”
Clobbering
Conte joked that England’s best way to stop Hazard might be Chelsea and England defender Gary Cahill clobbering him in training.
Conte wants Chelsea to tie down Hazard and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to new contracts as soon as possible.
He added: “For sure, I will be very happy when they can have this deal, but this is the responsibility of the club to try to do this.
“They are both very young players and it will be great to keep them with us.”
Rafa Benitez says the day after the summer transfer window closed was the moment he knew the limits of Newcastle’s ambition this season.
With owner Mike Ashley trying his best to sell the club, rather than spend more money on it, Benitez knows the only shopping he will be doing in January will be in the clearance sales.
Asked if his Newcastle have enough quality to stay up, boss Benitez said: “We have to improve, but yeah, to stay up I think so.
“We know we have to improve a lot of things, but still we will be a team in the bottom half of the table.
“It’s exactly what we were expecting on the first of September. We know a lot about our team, but at the same time we know about the other teams and still we can’t stop them.
“Obviously, we are a young team that has to learn and has to improve and we are learning every week. It’s a fact, not a worry, that we don’t have enough experience. Everybody knew and we knew.”
Dwight Gayle steered home the opening goal in the 12th minute but Newcastle were unable to keep Chelsea at bay once Hazard had latched on to a loose ball nine minutes later.
Alvaro Morata’s header from a Victor Moses cross and Hazard’s second-half penalty reinforced the gulf in class.
Newcastle striker Ayoze Perez said: “We can’t keep saying we are still okay in the table.
“This is the moment to start turning things around and get back to having the winning feeling again.
“We knew there might be periods like this, but it has gone on too long now.” CHELSEA (3-5-2): Courtois 6; Azpilicueta 7, Christensen 7 (Cahill 80), Rudiger 6; Moses 9, Fabregas 7 (Bakayoko 78), Kante 8, Drinkwater 7, Alonso 6; Morata 7, HAZARD 9 (Willian 78). Subs: Caballero, Zappacosta, Pedro, Batshuayi. UP NEXT: Atletico Madrid (h), Champions League, tomorrow. NEWCASTLE (3-4-2-1): DARLOW 8; Mbemba 6, Lejeune 6, Clark 6; Manquillo 6, Diame 5 (Shelvey 75), Merino 6 (Yedlin 85), Ritchie 5 (Hayden 62, 6); Murphy 6, Perez 7; Gayle 7. Subs: Elliot, Aarons, Joselu, Mitrovic. UP NEXT: Leicester (h), Premier League, Saturday. Referee: Kevin Friend 7. YOUR TURN: How many years is it since Newcastle last won at Chelsea – 5, 25 or 45?