Amid Chelsea’s struggles last season, Hazard did not score his first goal in the Premier League until Chelsea’s 34th game in April. I took this decision – but the next game, we don’t know.
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The Italian was answering questions on why Spain’s Cesc Fabregas was not in his starting eleven against West Ham United on Monday.
Hazard, the inspiration behind Chelsea’s league and League Cup double in 2014-15, scored just six goals in 43 appearances in a hard campaign last season as they finished 10th and failed to win a trophy.
Diego Costa should not have been on the pitch to score Chelsea’s victor against West Ham but was not reckless in upending Adrian, according to Slaven Bilic.
Chelsea captain John Terry praised his teammate after a man of the match performance and said the victory was welcome after last season’s slow start. We are looking forward to the future.
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte says all players in his team know that he will have to take important decisions before every game.
Dimitri Payet, West Ham’s talisman a year ago, was brought on with only 25 minutes to go, perhaps in deference to a rigorous summer with France en route to the Euro final. “We want to bring a lot of emotion to the fans”.
“He must know from before that when we are a great team like Chelsea it can happen that I have to take a decision before the game to choose a starting XI”.
Eden Hazard scored the opener from the spot, with Costa rifling in the winning goal to render Collins’s equaliser useless. “The consistency is important, the winning start was vital”.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte defended Diego Costa after the snarling striker found himself at the centre of controversy once again in his side’s 2-1 victory over West Ham United.
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“I saw a lot of good things, lots of things they were working on in the last days”, he said. “It is a thigh injury and we will find out after the scan tomorrow”.
