Early goals in each half did for Southampton, with Hazard setting Chelsea on their way after only six minutes. It’s fantastic. The confidence increases.
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This seemed to encourage Conte’s side to venture forward more, with the livewire Hazard being in the thick of it again; creating space for a shot from the edge of the box, but being thwarted by Forster.
“It’s very hard to tell now our target, ” the Italian continued.
“We must not look at the table but continue to work, and after Christmas we can make a better prediction of what we can achieve”.
Craig Burley was impressed with the all-around complete performance by Chelsea against a tough Southampton side.
Conte praised his team’s “great commitment with and without the ball” after the game, and the signs at St. Mary’s suggest his players are adapting to the new 3-4-3 system comfortably and in style.
It was therefore a bit unusual to see the 23-year-old sitting on the bench in game of this dimension when he should have featured in the starting XI. “To come here and win wasn’t easy”, he said. “I can’t see anybody running away with it, so we want to be up there”.
The Belgium worldwide ran beyond the Northern Ireland midfielder into the area and, after cutting back onto his left foot at the near post following Victor Moses’ pass, he nutmegged Forster for his fifth league goal of the season – one more than he managed in 31 games last term.
“I pleased with the work rate, with the ball and without the ball”. I think this is the right way, to reach great satisfaction in this championship. You must have good stamina and quality to play as wing-backs.
Few are more familiar with the threat than Southampton coach Claude Puel, who monitored Hazard’s rise through the youth ranks while coaching at Lille, but he remained powerless to neutralise Chelsea’s most unsafe attacker.
Puel said: “Chelsea are the best team we have played this year and it was hard to find a solution against them. With Eden and Costa it is hard to resist”, he said. It’s a pity for my players because we tried to play good football and we had some chances and against Chelsea it’s important not to concede an early goal.
“I spoke with Eden after the game”.
Just seconds after kick-off, the Belgium midfielder underlined his threat with a clever run and cut back on the right side of the penalty area that ended with Costa unable to prod past Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
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“He is at a very good level”.
