Hazard Form Boosts Chelsea As Slavia Prague Europa Test Looms

10th April 2019 - by AFP

The player strongly-linked with a close-season move to Real Madrid, holds the key to Blues bid to finish the tournament on a high

Chelsea's Eden Hazard during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on April 8, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

SUMMARY

Chelsea head to Slavia Prague for their quarter-final first leg in good spirits after Eden Hazard inspired a vital Premier League win over West Ham on Monday

After a turbulent debut season for Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, Hazard's fine form has come at the ideal moment as they battle to qualify for the Champions League

And the Belgian playmaker offered hope that he might stick around for the second season of Sarri's reign when he said: "Statistically it's my best season

LONDON, United Kingdom- Chelsea head to Slavia Prague for their quarter-final first leg in good spirits after Eden Hazard inspired a vital Premier League win over West Ham on Monday.

Hazard scored a sublime solo effort and a produced a clinical late strike to clinch a 2-0 success that lifted the Blues into third place, above London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham.

After a turbulent debut season for Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri, Hazard's fine form has come at the ideal moment as they battle to qualify for the Champions League.

Hazard, strongly-linked with a close-season move to Real Madrid, holds the key to Chelsea's bid to finish on a high.

And the Belgian playmaker offered hope that he might stick around for the second season of Sarri's reign when he said: "Statistically it's my best season.

"I like to be able to say that, because the way he's thinking about football is the same way I think about football.

"We showed in the last two or three weeks we're adapting well with this manager, and now we want to finish the season well."

In the other quarter-final first legs, Portuguese side Benfica host Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt and Villarreal entertain Valencia in an all-Spanish encounter.