Chelsea’s Eden Hazard puts paid to Newcastle hopes of a shock

The only problem for Antonio Conte after seeing the irrepressible Eden Hazard provide the latest demonstration of his outstanding ability to win a game with almost no help at all was the knowledge that the Belgian’s brilliance still might not be enough for the champions to retain their title. Not with Manchester City setting new standards at the top of the Premier League. Chelsea played with controlled aggression to stamp out Newcastle United’s attempts at insurrection here, but Conte struck a slightly defeatist tone, lamenting how the team peering down at the rest of the league is doing “extraordinary things” and wondering when that will cease to be the case.

Unless that happens, Chelsea can forget about the Premier League trophy staying in west London. They did cut City’s lead to eight points, fighting back from a goal down to ruin Rafael Benítez’s return to one of his old clubs, but there seems little prospect of Pep Guardiola’s freewheeling side slipping up when they host West Ham United on Sunday , and such levels of excellence can be draining for those in pursuit of them.

In that context, however, it was still a pleasing afternoon for Conte. “A good performance overall,” he said. “I am very happy for this. It is not simple to go 1-0 down and have the right will and desire.”

For Conte, who is likely to be punished by the Football Association for being sent from the touchline in last Wednesday’s tight 1-0 win over Swansea City, it was a chance to stand back and appreciate Hazard’s special talent and, despite falling behind to Dwight Gayle’s early goal, Chelsea were never in any meaningful danger of losing.

Hazard scored twice, either side of Álvaro Morata’s 10th goal of the season in all competitions, and the home fans could revel in mocking Benítez long before the final whistle.

There was a bit of snarl in the air. Benítez has plenty of history with Chelsea, from those infamous Champions League semi-finals against his Liverpool team to that interim spell here four years ago, and the diehards in the Matthew Harding Stand greeted him with a loud chorus of boos.

However, the bigger concern for the Spaniard was his team extending their winless run to six matches. “Every game is so difficult,” he said, disappointed at Newcastle’s failure to build on Gayle’s opener in the 12th minute.

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The visitors made an ambitious start and the indecision in the Chelsea defence that led to Gayle stroking the ball into an unguarded net could be attributed to Newcastle’s initial exuberance.

The striker started the move by flicking on a long punt and Conte must have been alarmed by his side’s failure to react, with N’Golo Kanté too meek in his attempt to mop up and Marcos Alonso making everything worse with an ill-advised backpass. Thibaut Courtois charged out to deny Jacob Murphy but the goalkeeper’s intervention presented Gayle with an easy chance.

Gayle had put Newcastle in a similarly commanding position at Old Trafford two weeks ago, only for Manchester United to respond with four unanswered goals, and the hosts made sure that his enterprise went to waste again.

“We can change our system,” Conte said. “We can play Hazard as a second striker. We can play him as a No10 when we play 3-4-3. Today, Eden and Álvaro showed a good link.”

Conte opted for the 3-5-1-1 system that is designed to coax the best out of Hazard, granting him the freedom to roam from a central position, and it was an arduous task for a Newcastle side that strained to track the forward’s slippery movement.

Newcastle’s defending had become worryingly ragged by the time Hazard equalised in the 21st minute. Andreas Christensen sent a looping header against the left post and the team in black and white stripes had not fallen back into shape when César Azpilicueta whipped in another menacing cross. Florian Lejeune stretched to divert the ball away from Morata and Hazard followed up, driving a bouncing shot past Karl Darlow.

Chelsea went in front 12 minutes later. Victor Moses, making his first start since suffering a hamstring injury two months ago, laced a cross into the six-yard box from the right and Morata headed home from close range.

It was a fine way for Chelsea to respond to adversity and Moses was instrumental in their third goal, earning a penalty thanks to Matt Ritchie’s desperate late tackle. Hazard dinked it down the middle to give his team a precious cushion.

Now Chelsea could do with an unlikely favour from West Ham.