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Chelsea news: Eden Hazard Blues’ best player EVER? Huge Lampard, Terry, Drogba, Zola claim
EDEN HAZARD is the most individually gifted player EVER to play for Chelsea.
Klopp: We couldn’t strike back after Eden Hazard’s goal
That’s according to former Blues midfielder and academy coach Jody Morris, who however doubts whether Hazard is necessarily the best player ever to play for the club.
Hazard produced a match-winning performance from the bench in the Carabao Cup last night away at Liverpool.
The Belgian’s free-kick helped force Chelsea’s equaliser, with Emerson Palmieri poking in after Ross Barkley’s header was saved by Simon Mignolet.
But he stole the headlines with a stunning 85th-minute winner in which he picked up possession on the right, eased past three Liverpool defenders and slammed a fierce strike past Mignolet and into the far bottom left corner.
The 27-year-old has enjoyed an excellent start to the season having been named as possibly the best player in Europe, even over Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, by Maurizio Sarri after his hat-trick against Cardiff earlier this month.
That was followed by more massive praise from Sarri’s assistant and Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola after the win at Anfield, the Italian declaring: "He is not only one of the best in the Premier League, if not the best, but he's one of the best in Europe and the world.”
But Morris - currently assistant to Chelsea icon Frank Lampard at Derby County - thinks Hazard is the most talented player to play for the Stamford Bridge outfit over the likes of Zola, Didier Drogba and Peter Osgood.
Though he refused to say whether or not he felt that Hazard’s impact during his six-and-a-bit seasons put him above much-revered club heroes such as Lampard and Terry.
I think he has won more games than Zola did and he has scored some outrageous goals.
Former Chelsea midfielder Jody Morris was also in the Sky Sports studio on Wednesday evening and argued Hazard has more talent than any other player in the club's history.
"I think he's probably the most gifted player to ever play for Chelsea," he said.
"He wins games on his own. I think he has won more games than Zola did and he has scored some outrageous goals.
"Look at what he's won at the club in terms of leagues and with teams that weren't really up there with previous Chelsea teams, but with him in your team.
Andy Gray: Eden Hazard is the best player in the world
"For me, Eden Hazard is the most gifted. Whether he is the best, I don't know. I think Lamps and JT are pretty difficult to bypass."
Chelsea face Liverpool again this weekend in a clash of Premier League title rivals and Hazard has his sights set on a second win in four days over the Merseyside outfit, this time at Stamford Bridge.
He told Sky Sports after his Man of the Match display: “This result will give us more confidence because we drew with West Ham four days ago.
“The game on Saturday [with Liverpool] is more important. We have got to try and beat Liverpool on Saturday.”