NOW TITLE RACE IS BACK ON
Hazard: It will be tough but we must beat City this week
STAMFORD Bridge was empty and defeat was sinking in when Eden Hazard was stopped on the way to his car and quizzed about the interest from Real Madrid.
‘You want to get me in trouble?’ Hazard told the TV reporter. ‘No, I’m fine at Chelsea. I have things to finish this year.
‘I still have a contract until 2020. So I’m fine here.’
Music to the ears of the Chelsea supporters, at least, as they suffered defeat in the Premier League for just the second time in six months.
Seven points clear with nine games remaining, it is hard to envisage the Crystal Palace defeat triggering a full-scale Devon Loch collapse by Chelsea with the Premier League winning post in sight. Yet with Manchester City next at the Bridge on Wednesday, Chelsea’s nerve is about to be tested.
Antonio Conte has for weeks preached caution, with warnings from his playing days when Juventus squandered a nine-point lead, losing four of their last eight in 2000 to hand the title to Lazio.
‘This league was not finished before this game and it is not finished now,’ Conte said. ‘At the end, if we deserve to win the title we will be very happy. If someone else deserves the title it means they have played better than us.’
Chelsea’s form has not collapsed but they are facing different tests with a small squad.
Since Chelsea hit the top, opponents have set out to contain them rather than compete. Committing more men forward to hammer at deep-lying defences has left them occasionally vulnerable on the counter-attack — a ploy Palace worked to perfection. Chelsea have not kept a clean sheet in their last seven league games.
A calculated risk was taken to trim the squad in January, cashing in on Oscar, Branislav Ivanovic and John Mikel Obi when offers were high to create space for a summer recruitment drive. But the absence of Victor Moses against Palace was a reminder of Conte’s limited options.
Pedro, deputising at wing-back, did not provide the same solidity at the back and Chelsea missed his extreme pace in the final third of the pitch.
The obvious alternative, moving Cesar Azpilicueta to wing-back, would have deprived the back three of its most reliable defender.
Conte will not over-react. ‘Our performance was good because we dominated the game and we created many chances to score. This kind of defeat can happen.
‘I don’t change my mentality. In England, every game is tough whether the name of your next opponent is City or another team.’
Hazard said of the defeat: ‘It is a pity. It is a beautiful series of victories which stops but we cannot win everything. I do not think we played badly. Only the finishing let us down.
‘We knew it was going to be difficult on Wednesday. But it is a good game to start over again.’
SUPER STAT: Sam Allardyce is the first manager to beat Chelsea in the Premier League with four different clubs: Bolton, West Ham, Sunderland and Crystal Palace