Eden Hazard was only on the pitch for half an hour yesterday, but he made all the difference.
Before he was brought on, with the equally impressive Mateo Kovacic, the game was hanging in the balance. Chelsea were dominating the ball increasingly, but weren’t having meaningful possession high up the pitch.
That all changed when their wing wizard appeared.
Partly that was down to his skill at moving with the ball and dragging the team up the field of play. But it’s also a psychological effect. Once he’d run past a couple of Arsenal players, they naturally dropped deeper and deeper to protect themselves.
That allowed Chelsea to play the final twenty minutes in the opposition’s half, and that pressure finally paid off with Alonso’s goal.
It was a subtle shift, but a perfect summary of how world class players can change games without even needing to score themselves.
The sooner he’s back in the starting XI, the sooner we will see this new Chelsea emerge.
