Eden Hazard scored twice today, bringing him to the 100 goals in a Chelsea shirt benchmark, and helping his side to a 2-1 Boxing Day victory at Watford that they badly needed. Earlier in the day, the Blues saw their position in fourth place strengthen as arch-rival Arsenal dropped two points by virtue of their draw at Brighton.
After the match, Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri compared the impact that Hazard makes at the west London club to what the two greatest current footballers provide for their clubs.
“Of course he is very important for us, but Messi is very important for Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo is very important for Juventus,” Sarri said in regards to Eden Hazard.
“He is a very great player. He is able to play in every position. He is playing like a false No. 9. He is very able to play in that position, he scored two goals and I think he made two or three very good assists.”
“He is very able to come to play with teammates, he is able to make space for teammates, he is very able in that position, but I think that he can play very well in every position.”
That’s obviously very high praise there for the newest member of the Chelsea century club. The versatile Belgian attacking midfielder now has ten goals and nine assists on the Premier League season.
Up next for Eden Hazard and company in this festive period of fixture congestion is a short trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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