HAZARD PLAYS STARRING ROLE AS BLUES SHOW WINNING SPIRIT
Andre Villas-Boas was ridiculed when he dared to ask Chelsea’s substitutes to celebrate the goals. It is one thing to issue orders, and another to conjure the spirit to make it happen.
When four flew past Tottenham at Wembley on Saturday, the reaction of the bench behind Antonio Conte was striking.
John Terry and diego Costa hugged as Willian curled in a free-kick and Kurt Zouma wailed in disbelief and fell into the arms of nathaniel Chalobah as nemanja Matic fired the fourth into the top corner.
‘everyone was together and celebrating,’ said Cesc Fabregas, who won the FA Cup with Arsenal 12 years ago. ‘We are full of winners and I’m proud to be here.
‘The strength, that’s what you need to win titles. And that’s what we will need to do in every single game until the end of the season if we really want to win something.’
eden Hazard, Costa and Fabregas all started on the bench as Conte selected a team with games against Southampton tomorrow and everton on Sunday in mind.
‘You never want to accept it as a player, whoever you are,’ said Fabregas. ‘When you are used to playing all the time you feel a bit down. What I like is that we scored the first goal and everyone on the bench was together and celebrating.
‘The togetherness we had on the bench, scoring the goals and then coming on and not with the feeling like: “Oh, I was on the bench”, but coming on to make a difference and show character and hunger to win.
‘It is fantastic to be able to do that. It means the whole squad is ready to go.’
For this, Conte can take great credit. Just as he can for the tactical acumen which has led Chelsea from last season’s wilderness to the brink of the double.
Hazard (right), unleashed after an hour with the semi-final poised at 2-2, put Chelsea in control with his 15th goal of the season, 15 minutes from time, a reminder of his maturing talent and ability to influence big games.
‘eden can be whatever he wants to be,’ said Fabregas. ‘Abilitywise, there is only one player above him and we all know who he is — Lionel Messi. ‘He’s up there with the best. For me, he has to be more selfish as all the top players are and have that killer instinct to score more goals. I’ve told him many times. ‘Sometimes when we have a counter-attack and it’s two against two and he passes the ball, I tell him: “You have the capability to score by yourself, do it”. ‘I’m sure he will improve in the future. And then he will be unstoppable. We have to help him to achieve that.’ Securing a place in the FA Cup final helped Chelsea cleanse memories of their league defeat at Manchester United as they prepare for Southampton and their bid to close out the first half of a possible double before returning to Wembley at the end of May. ‘Southampton didn’t play for ten days and it will be a very tough game,’ said Fabregas. ‘It’s one of the most important games of the season. To achieve the double would be something special, especially in england. Tottenham go to Crystal Palace on Wednesday in a bid to keep the pressure on Chelsea by ensuring their form does not drift away as it did last year. ‘A lot of people will be looking at us and waiting to see what will happen,’ said Harry Kane, the scorer of his side’s first goal. ‘Are we strong enough to bounce back? ‘That’s what we have got to see. I think we are. ‘It’s not easy but we will fight until the end.’ CHELSEA (3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Ake; Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso; Pedro (Fabregas 74), Batshuayi (Costa 61), Willian (Hazard 61). Subs not used: Begovic, Chalobah, Terry, Zouma. Booked: Alonso, Kante. TOTTENHAM (3-4-2-1): Lloris; Dier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Trippier, Wanyama (Nkoudou 79), Dembele, Son (Walker 68); Eriksen, Alli; Kane. Subs not used: Lopez, Davies, Wimmer, Sissoko, Janssen. Booked: Alderweireld, Alli. Referee: Martin Atkinson. Attendance: 86,355. Man of the match: Willian.