The forward, restored to his favoured position, produced a sublime first-half display against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup semi-finalWelcome back, Mr Hazard. We’ve been expecting you. On a chilly, boisterous night under the low white lights at Stamford Bridge Chelsea reached the final of the Carabaou Cup. They did so thanks to a first half during which they scored twice and played with an unmannered freedom, not so much Sarri-ball as a team settling back into a comfortable old pair of shoes.Crucially Eden Hazard was restored from the start to a place on the left flank he never should have left. And for 45 minutes Hazard was sublime, a player reaching out into those old familiar spaces and reminding his...
Going public can have an adverse effect and Sarri’s candour is surprising given recent Chelsea managers’ experienceChelsea started their season with five successive league victories and went unbeaten until late November. There was a lot of positive talk about the impact of Maurizio Sarri and how his successful style of football at his previous club Napoli was being transferred so quickly to Chelsea. In these early weeks of the campaign Jorginho was dictating matches from a deep-lying midfield position while N’Golo Kanté scored on the opening weekend, appearing to relish a modified and less defensive role. Related: Gonzalo Higuaín: ‘infernal machine’ ready to relaunch career at Chelsea | Marcus Christenson Related: Gonzalo Higuaín quiz: how well do you know Chelsea's...
Unai Emery gets better of Maurizio Sarri, Mohamed Salah takes shine off his milestone and Riyad Mahrez victim of City’s powerWhile these have been a troubled few weeks for Arsenal, with Sven Mislintat’s impending exit set to leave a big hole in their recruitment department, their victory over Chelsea was a reminder there have been plenty of positives during Unai Emery’s first season. The Spaniard has had to muddle along with an imbalanced squad but has shown he can make important tactical interventions on several occasions. He certainly got the better of Maurizio Sarri, disrupting the Chelsea manager’s attempts to build from the back by using an energetic high press, and his switch to a midfield diamond demonstrated Arsenal have...
Arsenal’s tireless centre-forward made himself the decisive figure on a field full of silky attackers toiling in ill-suited rolesSometimes it’s hard to be a striker. Or a No 9. Or a nine and a half. Or a fluid high-pressing false 11.There were six forwards of varying types on show as this match kicked off. None of them were your orthodox, meat-and-potatoes centre-forward – although Eden Hazard did make a dutiful attempt at standing with his back to goal while the ball sailed over his head, taking to the central role with all the refined disdain of a concert violinist making ends meet by delivering flat-pack furniture out of the back of a truck. Related: Maurizio Sarri says Chelsea’s players are...
Who will Pochettino turn to up front? Will Lindelöf banish bad memories of Brighton? And should Sarri start Giroud? If Mauricio Pochettino could have picked one Premier League team to start playing against without his top scorer and his most in-form attacker, then he would surely have plumped for Fulham. Claudio Ranieri’s defensively chaotic side are the perfect opponents in a far-from-ideal scenario for Tottenham, who must learn to cope without Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. It will still be interesting to see how Mauricio Pochettino tries to overcome those losses. Perhaps he will ask Dele Alli or Lucas Moura to play as a shifty striker or maybe he’ll deploy Fernando Llorente, a more conventional centre-forward who netted a hat-trick...