Hazard has class – but he can also look after himself
As debuts go, setting up two goals in the first seven minutes isn’t bad.
And so it’s no surprise that Eden Hazard’s performance was the main talking point from Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Wigan.
Hazard was superb, the tone set as early as the second minute when he turned beautifully in the centre-circle to leave Wigan’s defence standing before playing a through-ball right on to Branislav Ivanovic’s toes for the defender to run on to and score. It was fantastic.
And the penalty earned four minutes later illustrated how hard some teams will find it to cope with him, with two defenders unable to contain the Belgian without fouling him.
Inevitably, he got a bit of a kicking after that but even that threw up encouraging signs in that he didn’t hide when the treatment got rough, played on when he could and sprung back on to his feet every time.
All great skilful players are tough as well – it’s what sets them apart from talented players who can get kicked out of a game – and Hazard’s signs look good.
I heard a few people talking about how Wigan had more shots at goal and more corners than Chelsea, as though the home side had bossed the game and we had been hanging on. But that simply wasn’t the case.
Of course they attacked more – they were 2-0 down early on, had to try to get themselves into the game and aren’t hopeless.
But we contained them well and, if anything, looked more likely to score again, with a second definite penalty turned down for a foul on Fernando Torres and the Spanish striker having a shot cleared off the line in the second half.
Torres had a relatively quiet game but those moments showed he was still dangerous and his partnership with Hazard can only get better.
Last season Chelsea only drew at the DW Stadium. It was results like that which saw us finish sixth and which need to be improved upon if we’re to get back to finishing higher up the table.
Clawing back two of the points we dropped last year is already a good start – and if we can add wins against Reading and Newcastle in the next few days the season will already be looking promising.
James Clarke is the author of Moody Blues: Following the second-best team in Europe
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