An excellent result against Tottenham in GW28… so the question is, can they now gather momentum?
My plan whatever the result in this game was to bring Higuain in for Aubameyang. He played reasonably well, had a few chances hitting the post from a sliced effort being one of them. That said, I’m turning my head towards Hazard.
Yes he got taken off after 59 mins (to the dismay of his FPL owners), but I wouldn’t be worried about that. I think it was noticeable he had tired legs as his exploits of the EFL cup may well have caught up on him.
He is their main man, make no mistake about it, and I have a feeling the early substitution will have a positive effect when he turns up at Craven Cottage. We all know on his day, Hazard can score against anyone. I don’t think we can point the finger at him for any of Chelsea’s recent failings. He has at times looked frustrated and that is understandable.
He has already matched last season’s tally of 12 goals (scoring 16 in the season before that), and now could be the perfect time for him to add to this tally starting with Fulham (a). This is followed by Wolves (H) GW30, Everton (a) GW31, a prospect of a mouth-watering DGW32 Cardiff (a), Brighton (H) and West Ham (H) GW33.
I think it’s been quite a shame that after his brace against Huddersfield in GW25, Chelsea have had to face Man City twice (including the cup final) and Tottenham. Though delving a bit more into Hazard’s hauls this season, I’m willing to chance that more hauls are lurking just around the corner with the kind fixtures approaching.
Concentrating on double digit hauls only, Hazard has 7 so far and this is how its reads:
GW 4 Bournemouth (H) 2-0 win 1 goal, 3BP 11 points
GW 5 Cardiff (H) 4-1 win 3 goals, 3 BPS 20 points
GW 7 Liverpool (H) 1-1 draw 1 goal, 3 BPS 10 points
GW 8 Southampton (a) 3-0 win 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 BPS 14 points
GW 17 Brighton (a) 2-1 win 1 goal, 1 assist, 3BPS 13 points
GW 19 Watford (a) 2-1 win 2 goals, 3 BPS 15 points
GW 25 Huddersfield (H) 5-0 win 2 goals, 2 BPS 15 points
The main point of my exercise here was to point out the hauls tend to come in games of less difficulty, contrary to the fact we know he can score against any team. I think the underlying issue is that perhaps Chelsea haven’t performed this season as they would have hoped. Obvious factors such as the striker issues, Sarri’s vision not being implemented effectively also. Though with Higuain leading the line, I believe they will now kick on and definitely take a top 4 spot. Let’s not forget, he wasn’t deemed to be at his fitness peak when he arrived in January and has only had the 4 league games to date. Adapting to life in the Premier League is never going to be easy, but under the circumstances, he’s done very well.
I think Higuain is going to be the most obvious of transfer moves FPL managers could make as Aubameyang > Higuain (for example) is an easy decision to make.
I think one of the keys to success is not holding on to previous failings. I captained Hazard earlier in the season 3 weeks on the trot and got no returns. It was hard to take and my rank and ML positions suffered at the time. Though I’m going to grab the bull by the horns in this game week. Hazard comes in for Son, with Aubameyang making way for Vardy.
Good luck to you all once again this week.
Cheers
Pep Pig
5 years, 1 month ago
Thanks for the effort mate!
Having already Vardy from the previous week (rash to Vardy) I will stick with my initial plan which is bringing higuain in for Auba.
I think higuain will excel against Fulham, he is a great asset and is the ideal he for him to start firing!