While Saturday’s thrilling match between Chelsea and Liverpool ended in a 1-1 draw, one thing that was made abundantly clear is that Eden Hazard is ready to reclaim his title as the Premier League’s best player from Mohamed Salah.
The dramatic end-to-end game was English soccer at it’s very best — fast, intense and full of incident. From the opening kickoff to the final whistle, Maurizio Sarri’s Blues and Jürgen Klopp’s Reds went after each other with reckless abandon, attacking first and only bothering to try to stop the other side well after. And no player seemed more in their element than Hazard.
Coming off a mixed season where he was not his usual elite self consistently enough (though he did excel in the World Cup), the Belgian forward has gotten off to a great start under new manager Sarri, wreaking havoc on every defense he’s come across during the season’s opening six matches, scoring five goals in the process.
And Saturday, despite a significant upturn in competition, was no different. Sarri’s sides are whirling machines of quick passing and purposeful movement meant to create space and pull the defense out of position, and there’s no one at Chelsea better suited towards this style of play than Hazard. Whether he had the ball or not, the forward was a constant threat, setting off of mazing dribbles, putting his teammates through with pin-point passes and making lethal runs whenever the defense turned their back on him. This was how he got his sixth goal of the season, running onto a gorgeous through ball from Mateo Kovacic, taking a touch and ripping the ball just past the hand of a diving Allison to put his team up in the 25th.
Though this current iteration of Liverpool would seem to be further along than the recently rebooted Chelsea, Hazard’s play was more than enough to even the playing field on Saturday. Though his teammates are no slouches themselves, it was Hazard who ran the Reds ragged nearly every time he touched the ball. In fact, had it not been for a marvelous piece of skill from Daniel Sturridge just before full time (more on that in a bit), Hazard’s performance would’ve earned his team a vital win in the race for the title.
Hazard’s dazzling run of form was only highlighted by the struggles of his counterpart, last year’s PFA Player of the Year, Salah. The Egyptian has yet to hit his stride in the season’s opening months. Again on Saturday he seemed just a little bit off, mishitting passes to wide open teammates, ballooning the ball into the seats when he chose to shoot. Fortunately for the Reds, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have picked up the slack, which one hopes will ease the pressure on Salah until he plays his way back into form.
That’s a luxury that Hazard doesn’t have, though. It’s early still, but the forward has scored 40-percent of his team’s goal, something that just can’t last. The forward’s punishing offensive play has also often been the team’s best line of defense, particularly in exciting 3-2 win over Arsenal in August. If Chelsea wants to be in the title picture come the new year, though, the rest of the team, particularly misfiring forwards Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata, need to up their games. Fortunately, until they do, Hazard seems more than willing to put the rest of the team on his back.
Goal of the Week
Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool
As the game wore on and Chelsea continued to frustrate Liverpool with last-gasp tackles and goal-line clearances, it became clear the Reds were going to need something special to finally break their opponents down. Luckily, substitute Sturridge, having been on the pitch a matter of minutes, was up to the challenge. The forward calmly collected the ball just outside the box in the 89th minute, and without looking up, reared back his foot and let loose a curving and dipping shot that just managed to past keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s hand and under the bar for the equalizer.
Crisis of the Week
Manchester United
After six days in which they drew with a newly promoted side, saw star midfielder Paul Pogba and manager Jose Mourinho’s feud hit new lows and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by lower league Derby County, United’s week somehow hadn’t yet hit rock bottom. That came Saturday morning when the Red Devils were torn apart 3-1 by an inconsistent West Ham team that lost its first four games of the season. United’s title challenge is over before October, and if they don’t act quick, their chance at finishing in the top four just might be too.