Eden Hazard not thriving in false No.9
The out-of-sorts Belgian international has been famously struggling with his form this season and in an effort to break his stale run, was re-positioned by Mourinho in a false-nine role against Bournemouth.
A winger by trade, Hazard found himself floating out-wide, despite the more central positional obligations of the main forward target. After the introduction of Diego Costa at halftime, Hazard was pushed back out to the left-wing, where he looked far more comfortable.
In Hazard’s defense though, he did fulfill one of the harder parts of the role – distribution. Last season’s PFA Player of the Year commanded an impressive 93% pass accuracy record over the course of the first-half, helping his side move the ball at a pace that generated a green patch of play for Mourinho’s men.
Suspected of being to small to fulfill the physical role of a Premier League striker, expect to see Hazard resume playing out-wide, with Costa likely to return to the first team in the pursuit of goals.
Simon Francis and Steve Cook compact
It was no cakewalk for the Cherries, withstanding a constant onslaught from the Chelsea ranks for the duration of the game. With that in mind, Bournemouth fans owe a great debt of gratitude to the centre-back pairing of Francis and Cook.
The persistence of Chelsea’s attack gave the visiting defenders plenty of work to do, making not only 17 clearances to Chelsea’s 12, but being forced to make them in much more dire situations – often from deep inside their own box.
Moving the ball with ease, Chelsea often found themselves in the Bournemouth third and managed an impressive 12 shots from inside the 18-yard box, none of which made it to the net. This was largely thanks to the positioning and efforts of Francis and Cook – plus six ‘textbook’ saves from Artur Boruc.
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