| Saints At Chelsea The Verdict | Some have been saying of late my verdicts have been like a broken record, that is because defensively it has been … 26-04-2017 |
Claude Puel admits he is happy to see Eden Hazard back to his best despite seeing the Belgian play a starring role in Chelsea’s 4-2 win over his Southampton side on Tuesday night.
Puel brought a 16-year-old Hazard into the first-team fold at French club Lille where the winger went on to win two consecutive Ligue 1 Player of the Year awards before departing for Chelsea in 2012.
After securing the PFA Player of the Year gong in 2015, Hazard endured a miserable subsequent campaign as Chelsea ended in a lowly 10th position last term.
But the Belgium international has since revived his form under Antonio Conte to sit on 15 Premier League goals for the season after he opened the scoring against Puel’s Southampton side on Tuesday and then played a role in both of Diego Costa’s goals.
After the game at Stamford Bridge, Puel labelled Hazard a “fantastic player” and admitted he is happy to see the winger perform to the standards that he did two years ago when he won the best player in the league accolade.
When asked about Hazard, who came second in this season’s PFA Player of the Year award behind teammate N’Golo Kante, Puel said: "He’s a fantastic player.
"I’m happy for him. It was the same at Lille when he was 16 with the same quality, to assist and score.
“He’s continued that [here] and he’s fantastic.”
He added: “We played a good game against a great opponent. Hazard and Costa played really well.”
| Our man of the match: Chelsea (A) | Southampton struggled against one of the Premier League top sides again on Tuesday night as they lost 4-2 to … 26-04-2017 |
Though the 25-year-old admitted that his return was somewhat bittersweet, as Saints fell to a 4-2 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
“It’s good to be back,” he started.
“I always want to play and I always want to help the team and give the best account of myself.
“So it was enjoyable to be back out there again but sadly we couldn’t win. Hopefully we can do that on Saturday in front of our own fans.”
Despite the Spaniard’s equaliser and Ryan Bertrand’s late header, Saints were seen off by a Diego Costa brace and goals from Eden Hazard and Gary Cahill.
Though Romeu still believes there are elements of the performance that Claude Puel’s men should look to replicate against Hull City on Saturday.
“There are things we did today that we need to do again on the weekend,” he continued.
“We were brave with the ball and we played a good match – that’s what we need to focus on and make sure we do again.
“We need to get those three points because they will be very important. We need to start winning games and thinking of getting as high in the table as possible.”
Second-half efforts from Javi Guerra and former Manchester United forward Manucho proved the difference for Rayo, who now sit 13th in the table.
Jason McCarthy played the duration of Walsall’s home clash with Port Vale, but could not prevent a 1-0 defeat at Banks’ Stadium.
Chris Eagles hit a late stunner to deny the Saddlers a point, while keeping the visitors League One survival hopes alive.
The result came after a 1-0 defeat to Coventry City on Saturday, with young striker George Thomas on target for the already relegated Sky Blues in a game where McCarthy also played the full 90 minutes.
Elsewhere, Sam Gallagher played 77 minutes of relegation-threatened Blackburn Rovers’ goalless draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molinuex before being replaced by Lucas João.
Tony Mowbray’s men remain in the bottom three, two points below Birmingham City with two games remaining.