Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has revealed that he intentionally left out star player Eden Hazard out of the Stoke City 2-1 win. The former Juventus manager revealed he did it as a precaution.
Hazard’s was notably absent from the Chelsea squad that travelled North on Friday night after he reportedly suffered a calf injury during training last week. Right now, the 26-year-old is not expected to represent his country at their upcoming international games against Greece and Russia.
Due to the injury, the Belgian winger was forced to sit out a Premier League game for only the second time this season (even though he wasn’t very much missed as Chelsea won both games).
Now, the Italian boss has revealed after the game that he didn’t want to take any risks with the Belgium international.
Conte stated in the Evening Standard that in the last training, Hazard felt a bit of a problem in his calf, so for this reason, he decided not to risk him.
This season so far, Hazard has been so impressive and is back to his best. He has scored 11 goals and has provided 4 assists. Also, he has created more chances than any player in Antonio Conte’s squad and has completed 120 take-ons (at an 78% success rate).
In his absence, Chelsea successfully snatched the full points from Stoke City, thanks to a late goal from Gary Cahill that sealed the victory. Chelsea remains firm favourites to win the title this season.
Apart from being in the list for some ‘pleasant’ stats so far this season, Eden Hazard is also in some ‘unpleasant’ ones: He is the most fouled player in the Premier League this season! What a player!
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