Chelsea 3 Arsenal 1
Chelsea: Alonso (13'), Hazard (53'), Fàbregas (85')
Arsenal: Giroud (90'+1)
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
"I ask myself what I can do to become like [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo, and score 50 or 60 goals in a season," Eden Hazard pondered in an interview with Sport/Foot Magazine in 2015.
“I try but I realise that I will never be a true scorer. It is not in me. It is mainly mental. Sometimes I still think after a goal: ‘that’s enough’. I’m not in search of records like some other players.”
How things change. Hazard’s solo strike in Saturday’s victory against Arsenal was his 10th goal of the Premier League campaign, a tally which puts him on course to beat his season-long record of 14 since signing for Chelsea from Lille in 2012.
More importantly, his effort at Stamford Bridge helped secure yet another home win for Chelsea, who moved 12 points clear at the top of the table as a result ahead of the rest of the day’s action.
The Belgium international was heavily involved throughout the first half as Chelsea, in search of an 11th consecutive victory in front of their own supporters, swiftly took control of proceedings.
Arsenal could not get a grip of the elusive Hazard, whose trickery in tight areas was a sight to behold.
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He often took up narrow positions just off Diego Costa in Chelsea’s customary 3-4-3 configuration, with Marcos Alonso tasked with supplying the attacking width on the left-hand side.
It was Alonso who opened the scoring in the 13th minute, the wing-back reacting quickest to nod home the rebound after Diego Costa’s header came crashing off the crossbar.
The visitors appealed in vain for a foul on Hector Bellerin, but Theo Walcott was deserving of more criticism than the referee for his failure to track Alonso’s run.
It was the 18th time that Chelsea have scored first this season, and Antonio Conte’s men looked completely comfortable defending a one-goal advantage.
Arsenal were permitted plenty of possession but found it difficult to penetrate Chelsea’s compact defensive shape, while the speed of Pedro, Hazard and Victor Moses allowed Chelsea to mount numerous counter-attacks down the flanks.
Arsenal did have a positive spell towards the end of the first half, with Gabriel spurning their best chance after a well-worked corner, but there was no doubt that Chelsea were good value for their lead at the break.
Things got even better after the interval, as the hosts came out with more urgency after the restart.
N’Golo Kante pushed up the pitch to press and win tackles in advanced areas, before Hazard put the game out of Arsenal’s reach with his latest moment of magic.
First turning away from Laurent Koscielny in the centre circle, the forward shrugged off the challenge of Francis Coquelin, weaved past the recovering Koscielny once more and finished past Petr Cech to put his side in a commanding position in the 53rd minute.
Cesc Fabregas added a lobbed third after an error from Cech in the Arsenal goal late on, while Olivier Giroud converted the most inconsequential of consolations in stoppage time, but it was Hazard’s genius that effectively made certain of another three points for the league leaders.
As well as all his other qualities in general play — including the creativity that has seen him provide three assists for his teammates — the Belgian is, on average, finding the net every 193 minutes in the Premier League this season, while he has now been directly involved in seven goals in Chelsea’s last nine matches at Stamford Bridge.
It is certainly not a bad return for someone who “will never be a true scorer”.
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