Chelsea FC draw 1-1 with Liverpool: five talking points
3. Hazard opens the scoring
With Pedro and Willian taking up positions on the wings, Eden Hazard had the opportunity to show his effectiveness in the central attacking midfielder role. The Belgian fit in nicely, being the focal point of the Chelsea attack, and showing flashes of his form he held throughout most of last season.
He opened the scoring by getting into a pocket of space wide, but quickly cutting back inside. With the Liverpool defense and midfield mostly transitioning back to defense, there weren’t many options for a pass. So, logically, Hazard just continued to run at the heart of the Liverpool defense. Nobody was able to make a clean challenge and Hazard was able to beat Simon Mignolet with a cool finish.
As we often see at all levels of football, one side wasn’t able to grab a goal after a spell of dominance, and their opponents made them pay at the other end.
Next: 4. Begovic struggles