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Hazard back to his best?
- Updated: September 15, 2016
Ahead of Chelsea’s Friday Night Football clash with Liverpool, Whoscored.com check the numbers behind Eden Hazard’s return to form.
While bringing in new faces to freshen up Chelsea’s squad was a priority for Antonio Conte, getting the best from those who underwhelmed in the previous campaign was always likely to be the Italian’s quickest route to success.
There were two players in particular who failed to get close to the standards they set in the Blues’ title-winning 2014/15 season. Four games in, Diego Costa is already a third of the way to matching his goal tally for the whole of 2015/16, with his WhoScored.com rating increasing from 7.08 to 7.67.
But while the Spain international’s return to form has been a welcome boost to his new head coach, the performances of Eden Hazard have been even more encouraging. The Belgian had a WhoScored.com rating of 7.96 in his PFA Player of the Year-winning 2014/15 campaign, and he appears to be getting back to his very best with a rating of 7.90 at this early stage.
With two goals to his name already – it took him until April last season to open his league account – the 25-year-old’s confidence looks restored, which can only be a good thing ahead of the Blues’ Friday Night Football clash with Liverpool on Sky Sports. It is a fixture the winger is fond of, having scored more goals against the Reds than any other English opponent (five).
But it’s not just his goalscoring that has improved recently, as Conte’s role in offering Hazard a new lease of life should not be understated. It appears as though …
