What will Antonio Conte make of Eden Hazard’s resurgence at Chelsea?

Eden in the right direction: Hazard is showing signs he is back to his best
(PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)
Simon Johnson12 May 2016

Antonio Conte must be watching Eden Hazard’s return to form unsure whether to start celebrating or begin cursing.

In some ways, the timing of Hazard rediscovering his mojo could not be much worse for him. One month from tomorrow, Conte will hope his Italy side stop the exciting attacking midfielder as they face Belgium at Euro 2016, but once the tournament is over, Conte will aim to benefit from Hazard’s talent as he takes over as Chelsea’s head coach.

While the Italy manager could have mixed feelings right now, deep down Conte must be enjoying what he has seen from afar in the last few weeks. After going 26 League games without a goal this season, Hazard now has four in as many matches.

Starting with a fine brace at Bournemouth, all four have been of increasing quality. It did not seem possible that the superb strike to earn a point against Tottenham last week could be bettered.

And yet at Anfield last night, he opened the scoring in the first half with a sublime individual effort, bamboozling several Liverpool players before firing the ball into the bottom corner.

Not long ago many Chelsea fans had lost patience and were hoping the new regime would engineer the 25-year-old’s departure from Stamford Bridge during the summer.

No player had suffered a greater drop in form from one season to the next than the Belgium forward, who had gone from being the 2015 PFA and FWA Player of the Year to a liability.

As Chelsea struggled in all four competitions, Hazard appeared laboured, disinterested and not up for the fight. His body language suggested a player looking for the exit and public flirtations with Real Madrid and Paris St Germain did not help.

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A strained relationship with former manager Jose Mourinho was given as another reason for his demise but Hazard simply has not been fully fit.

The late return to pre-season training organised by Mourinho did not help, while he has been in pain for much of the campaign due to various injuries.

It is no coincidence he has begun to look like his old self after being given a six-week break following Chelsea’s Champions League defeat by PSG in March.

For the first time he was not only given time to recover from his aches and pains but also to work on his condition.

Now he looks slimmer, a yard faster and is running at defenders with conviction, skill and menace. There are certainly no demands from the fanbase to sell him now.

His renaissance has come too late to help Chelsea salvage anything from this season and Belgium stand to benefit most in the short term.

But with Hazard already reassuring Conte that he is committed to staying at Stamford Bridge, he is Chelsea’s best hope for a brighter future.

As midfielder Nemanja Matic told Standard Sport: “I have said it many times, Eden is our best player. I’m sure he will be a very important player for Chelsea next season.

“Can he get Chelsea back to the top playing like he is right now? Of course. He is in a good moment now and can always decide games.

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“It’s difficult when the team are losing to say that anyone plays good. But like everyone, Eden always tries to give his best. I’m sure next season he will be better.

“It is very difficult to control him. I know that from playing against him in training. You could see against Liverpool that the only way they could stop him was by picking up yellow cards. He is a special player.”

It is a view shared by interim manager Guus Hiddink, who sees Hazard’s return to form as a positive for the Premier League as well as Chelsea.

He said: “Little by little, Eden’s got his shape and you can see what he’s able to do. He’s gifted. He’s smart. He can play one on one wherever on the pitch. He’s playing with courage.

“He’s receiving a lot of physical contact but, nevertheless, he goes on. He’s physically and mentally fit and it’s a pleasure to see those players.”

Chelsea will just rue the fact they didn’t make the most of Hazard’s display to earn a third successive League win at Anfield.

The visitors had a number of chances but Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet made some key saves.

There was also the promising performances from youngsters Bertrand Traore, Abdul Baba Rahman, Kenedy and Tammy Abraham, who was making his professional debut.

But with Chelsea missing defenders John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic, Jurgen Klopp’s side created a number of opportunities themselves, although they had to rely on a mistake from keeper Asmir Begovic in injury time to equalise through Christian Benteke.

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