PREM LEAGUE

Nuno ready for Blues after players imitate Hazard

NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO says it’s not just the thought of facing Eden Hazard that’s disturbing his sleep.

The Wolves boss prepares for tonight’s visit of Hazard and a star-studded Chelsea team on the back of a dismal run.

Just one point in a six-match winless streak is hardly the ideal preparation – and star player Ruben Neves is suspended to make matters worse.

‘Nuno had a Dream’ might be the anthem that rings around Molineux, but the Wolves boss admits the last month has been more of a nightmare.

“I’m sleeping okay, but not as well as before, of course,” he said. “But this is the reality and this is life in football.

“Of course it affects me. It affects us all, but you have to face it. You have to be ready for anything and everything and accept everything the way things are.”

The Wolves squad have been simulating the threat of Hazard in training, though Nuno

(right) admits it’s not an easy task.

“Even the players that are not playing realise how important they are to prepare for a game like this,” he said.

“They transformed themselves into

Hazards to create situations. This is what you want from a squad – everybody working.

“I’ve had ‘Hazards’ doing one-vones and this is the way we work.

“Chelsea have a lot of quality but Hazard is exceptional. He’s up at the top of Premier League players.

“Chelsea are also one of the top teams and that’s what we have to look at.”

Nuno is drumming into his players to remember just how good they were at the start of the season and not get disheartened by their worrying run.

“The core of the squad is the same that played so well all last season and when we started fantastically at the beginning of this season,” he said.

“We have to analyse what happened in this moment and remember there is a long, long way to go.

“The truth is, we’ve had fantastic moments so now we are in a bad moment, it still gives us something to hold onto.

“We must solve it. It’s a building process. This is what I believe. Some people might call me crazy but this is what I believe and this is how we work.

“I believe we are going to come stronger. The fans will be massive to us.

“Everybody knows the impact a noisy Molineux has on the team.”