HAZARD FACTOR MAKES CHELSEA TITLE CONTENDERS

JOSE MOURINHO believes that Eden Hazard could win Chelsea the Premier League this season — and admitted he would love to have him at Manchester United. Mourinho and Hazard (right) won the league together at Chelsea in 2015 and this week the Belgium international admitted he would like to work with the United boss again. That is not going to happen at Old Trafford but Mourinho does think the 27-year-old’s early season form is ominous ahead of today’s lunchtime Premiership clash at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho said: ‘I would love to have him but I don’t think Chelsea will sell him to Manchester United, so it’s not a problem. ‘History says that when Eden Hazard is the best player of the Premier League, Chelsea is the champion. It happened with me and with Antonio Conte — and this season he is the best player of the Premier League up to now. ‘I think he knows how good he is, how much he can influence the history of his team over the course of a season. ‘In my first season (with him at Chelsea) he was elected the best player of the Premier League and he was champion. In the second season he was not very good but we were not very good — and then Antonio comes and he is the best player of the Premier League and they won the title again. ‘Chelsea are top of the league because he is the kind of player who can make a huge difference.’ Maurizio Sarri, whose team are currently seven points ahead of United, has radically changed Chelsea’s football. Mourinho said: ‘They are not playing (in the) Champions League, but in the Premier League the results speak for themselves.’ This season Hazard has scored ten goals in 14 appearances for club and country. In his ten appearances for Chelsea, he has found the net eight times, scoring seven in eight Premiership games.