Chelsea ace Eden Hazard has revealed that he likes to play in the false nine role.
Maurizio Sarri opted to play Hazard as the lone striker in the Blues’ impressive 2-0 victory over Manchester City on Saturday. The club’s two specialist strikers, Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud, are clearly not doing enough to warrant regular first-team selection and this probably was what influenced Sarri into playing the Belgian in the forward role. Morata and Giroud have collectively managed just 11 goals since the league started in August. This is simply unacceptable for a team that is hoping to challenge for a place in the top four this season, let alone the top-flight title.
The Blues went on to defeat the Cityzens through goals from N’Golo Kante and David Luiz. Hazard, who has eight goals and several assists to his name so far this season, managed to impress in the false nine role, bagging assists for both goals. It is likely that Hazard will continue playing in the false nine role for the near-future considering the situation which Sarri currently has to deal with.
Whilst discussing his new role, Hazard said, as quoted by Goal: “I like it, because I played it last year also, so I know what to do, but the feeling is a bit strange because you don’t touch the ball a lot. You just need to focus on what you need to do and I tried to do my best, we won and that is what is important.”
The win against City will be a perfect confidence boost for Sarri’s troops following their recent defeats against Tottenham and Wolves. It now means that they are eight points adrift of the new league leaders Liverpool and several adrift of City, who have dropped to second on the standings.
