Belgium and Chelsea forward Eden Hazard finished as the runner-up to Croatia’s Luka Modric in Golden Ball award voting at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The award, which goes to the tournament’s most outstanding player, should have gone to the Hazard, said many pundits and observers at the time.
Leapfrogging Modric, who four days ago beat out Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah to win UEFA Player of the Year, is obviously a very tall order. As elite as Hazard’s form as has been in 2018, Modric’s has been out of this world.
Hazard, who has said he greatly prefers the tactics and style of new manager Maurizio Sarri over predecessors Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho, is currently flourishing in the Blues’ new system of play.
He’s helped lead Chelsea to four wins in four games, and relishes their current role as league title sleepers.
NBC Sports recognized the early season dominance of the 27-year-old Belgian, granting him the top spot in their Premier League individual player power rankings today. Here below are the top five and the movement they made from last week.
- Eden Hazard (Chelsea) – Up 2
- Sadio Mane (Liverpool) – Up 11
- Romelu Lukaku (Man United) – New entry
- Abdoulaye Doucoure (Watford) – Up 6
- Marcos Alonso (Chelsea) – New entry
As you can see above, one of Hazard’s teammates also cracked the top five. Jorginho also checked in at #6, giving the Blues three members of the 20 person long list. Watford was the only other club to land a trio on the list.
Meanwhile Manchester City, Liverpool, Fulham, Wolves and Southampton all each landed a pair.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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