5 ways Chelsea can benefit from the departure of Eden Hazard

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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – APRIL 28: Eden Hazard of Chelsea battles with Ander Herrera of Man Utd during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford on April 28, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images) /

2. Chelsea will be forced to become a more “complete” unit

Anyone who has seen Chelsea play this season will concede that the team had become over reliant on the Belgian star as the chief creator of goals. His 31 direct contributions to goal (16 goals, 15 assists) leads the Premier League this season, as he got little support from the rest of the Chelsea roster which included eight goals from Pedro, six from Ruben Loftus-Cheek playing primarily as a sub, five from the loaned out and often erratic Álvaro Morata and another five from A.C. Milan transfer Gonzalo Higuaín, a favorite of Sarri’s from his days at Napoli.

In comparison, only Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (47), PSG’s Kylian Mbappé (37) and Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella (32) have had more direct contributions to goal than Hazard across Europe’s top five leagues this season. He has been elite even among the elites.

If there was a way to stop Chelsea, it began and ended with containing Hazard. Coming off of a brilliant 2018 World Cup in Russia in which he guided the Belgian national team to a semifinal appearance against eventual champions France, Hazard has shown an astounding ability to dribble around or through defenders in his 2018/19 campaign.

However, just like in the NBA, going into “hero ball” mode isn’t always the best course of action. Chelsea’s attack would become too predictable at times with defenders suffocating Hazard as soon as the ball found its way to him.

Perhaps with a more balanced approach and a little more buy-in to “Sarri-Ball” we will see a more dynamic side with even goal distribution in next year’s Chelsea team. In comparison to the upper echelons of the league, Manchester City saw double-digit goals from three different players (Sergio Agüero, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sané ), as did Liverpool (Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino). While no one would expect that kind of production from a Chelsea side at this moment in time, that’s still what it takes to rise to the top of a league with such tremendous virtuosity.

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