Hazard gem sparkles in Chelsea's perfect start

Antonio Conte has won his first four games as
Chelsea manager after Eden Hazard’s sublime strike
inspired a comfortable 3-0 victory over Burnley to
leave his side top of the Premier League on
Saturday.
Former Italy coach Conte needed Diego Costa to
score in the closing moments of his first two games
in England to secure three points but there was
never any need for that kind of late drama at
Stamford Bridge this time.
Burnley, newly promoted from the Championship,
hadn’t won a league game at the Bridge for 45 years
and from the moment Hazard scored after only
nine minutes Chelsea were in the ascendency.
Willian doubled the lead before half-time and the
only surprise was that, despite dominating the
entire game, Chelsea weren’t able to add to that lead
until substitute Victor Moses struck in the 89th
minute as they produced their first clean sheet of
the season.
Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi, who scored twice
in Chelsea’s EFL Cup victory over Bristol Rovers in
midweek, returned to the bench as Diego Costa
came back in, Willian was included after recovering
from a calf injury and there was no place at all for
Cesc Fabregas.
The former Arsenal midfielder has not started a
league game for the Blues so far this season and
was left out of the Spain squad this week,
prompting further speculation about his future.
Conte’s team selection was not a matter of debate
for long, however, because Chelsea went ahead
early on with a wonderful goal from a revitalised
Hazard.
The Belgian picked the ball up in space just inside
the Burnley half, ran unchallenged at the away
defence and steered an accurate right-foot shot into
the opposite corner of the net from the edge of the
penalty area.
It was Hazard’s sixth goal in his last eight Premier
League games – and having scored only six in 44
before that it may well be evidence that he is
heading back to the kind of form which made him
Footballer of the Year in England in 2015.
– Burnley in tatters –
It was also a crucial goal for Chelsea bearing in
mind Burnley had beaten Liverpool a week earlier
despite enjoying only 19 per cent of possession.
But Hazard’s early strike left Burnley’s counter-
attacking plan in tatters.
Chelsea almost doubled their lead after 37 minutes
when Oscar’s cute cutback gave Costa an excellent
opportunity, but Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton
produced a smart save.
Willian, however, was more ruthless in the 42nd
minute, drilling a shot accurately across Heaton
from the right-hand side of the penalty area.
Chelsea really should have extended that lead after
57 minutes when a clever corner routine saw
Hazard’s unchallenged volley superbly saved by
Heaton and John Terry somehow blazed the
rebound over the bar.

The excellent Hazard also fizzed a left-foot shot
narrowly over and then saw a low drive well saved
at the end of a flowing move which was begun deep
his own half by N’Golo Kante, who enjoyed another
excellent game in midfield.
It took Burnley until the 72nd minute for the
visitors to even win a corner and it was only in the
final stages that they made Chelsea sweat.
However, a pair of late substitutions, Pedro and
Moses coming on, capped Chelsea’s afternoon, with
the former sweeping a ball across the box for the
latter to slide home just a minute from time.
The result means Conte, who joined Chelsea after
leading Italy to the Euro 2016 quarter-finals, has yet
to taste defeat in England as his team go into the
international break.