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Chelsea right to be wary of Eden Hazard smoke signals over possible new contract

Matt Law
Eden Hazard was visibly frustrated throughout the London derby - AFP
Eden Hazard was visibly frustrated throughout the London derby - AFP

Eden Hazard last week raised the hopes of his Chelsea team-mates that he might be ready to sign a new contract by suggesting to some of those inside Stamford Bridge that he expects to stay.

But Chelsea are wary of any smoke signals from Hazard while the official line from the Belgian’s camp is that he is yet to make up his mind on his future and is in no rush to commit past his current deal that expires in 2020.

That caution looks particularly sensible after a first defeat of the season that raises fresh question marks over whether or not Hazard will be able to realise all of his dreams with Chelsea.

Real Madrid are yet to make their summer intentions clear and their struggles continued with a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Eibar, but Chelsea are still a long way short of being able to make up significant ground on Manchester City and Liverpool.

Hazard wants to be a champion, a player regularly fighting for the biggest trophies and yet Saturday simply confirmed that, at the moment, he does not even play for the best team in London.

Eden Hazard of Chelsea is challenged by Juan Foyth of Tottenham Hotspur - Chelsea's penalty appeals weren't rewarded and the result of this challenge was an unhappy Hazard - Credit: Getty Images
Chelsea's penalty appeals weren't rewarded and the result of this challenge was an unhappy Hazard Credit: Getty Images

That title is currently held by Tottenham Hotspur, who took Chelsea apart and frustrated Hazard by cutting off his supply line and then isolating him when he did get the ball.

After Dele Alli had given Spurs an early lead, Hazard should have been awarded a penalty, following a challenge from Juan Foyth, but he then cut an increasingly annoyed figure.

The forward’s displeasure at being persistently fouled boiled over when he piled into the back of Ben Davies at the end of the first half, in which Harry Kane had doubled Tottenham’s advantage, and received a yellow card.

“I think the referees understand if they are making one, two, three, four fouls in this way, then it needs a yellow card,” said Hazard’s team-mate David Luiz. “They have to be clever to understand that.”

But it was not just his opponents who appeared to get on the nerves of Hazard, who was offered little support by striker Alvaro Morata and would often look up to find the Spaniard had once again strayed offside.

Head coach Maurizio Sarri even resorted to looking at Hazard in the false nine position, which the 27-year-old did not enjoy playing under former manager Antonio Conte, but abandoned the experiment after less than 20 minutes and Olivier Giroud went on to head a consolation goal.

David Luiz is beaten by Son - David Luiz struggled to keep pace with Tottenham's attacking players throughout - Credit: Getty Images
David Luiz struggled to keep pace with Tottenham's attacking players throughout Credit: Getty Images

It is now five Chelsea games without a goal for Hazard and it will be a worry for Sarri that opponents appeared to have cottoned on to the fact that the best way to stop him is to prevent Jorginho from getting the ball to the Blues’ star man.

Having seen Everton successfully stifle Jorginho and, in turn, Hazard, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino gave Dele the job of marking the Italy international out of the game and the tactic worked wonders.

“We know he (Jorginho) is a great player,” said Dele. “They’ve had a new manager come in, they’ve been performing very well and he’s a big part of them playing out from the back and dominating possession.

“He’s obviously a very good player and likes getting on the ball, and we knew that. So I wanted to be as close to him as possible to make sure that we won the ball up high, broke early and created the chances that we did. On another day, we could have scored a lot more. But in the end, it was a top performance from us.”

A first defeat of the season at the end of November should not cause panic at Chelsea and yet the nature of the performance suggested that Sarri has some big decisions ahead of him.

The 59-year-old is unlikely to deviate from his philosophy of having Jorginho at the base of his midfield, even if it nullifies the immense talent of N’Golo Kante, who looks uncomfortable in a more advanced role on the right.

But he may be forced to reassess his faith in central defender Luiz, following a calamitous display at Wembley that saw the Brazilian turn his back on Kane’s shot that beat Kepa Arrizabalaga and then embarrassingly fail to stop Heung-Min Son adding Tottenham’s third goal.

To his credit, Luiz stopped to explain himself after the game and apologised to the Chelsea fans on behalf of the entire team.

“It was a big derby, our fans were here, trying to help us,” said Luiz. “So sorry to them. They came here to support us and they go everywhere, doing a great job, so we have to come back in a positive way for them like we've done since the beginning of the season. It was our first loss, but even if you win you have to analyse and improve. That's the only way to success.”