Eden Hazard believes that the club’s participation in the Champions League has impacted their Premier League form this season.
Chelsea romped to a league title win last season, but did so without having to play any European football. This season, the Blues have not really been able to put up a fight against Manchester City in terms of the league table, and Hazard thinks that the Champions League is partly to blame.
Speaking speaking at a Nike event in London to mark the 20th anniversary of Nike’s Mercurial football boot, he told ESPN:
I think the Premier League is difficult. It’s hard to win every year. Last year we didn’t have the Champions League. This year we have less time to be ready for the games. Every week there are three games.
There has been a lot of focus on Chelsea’s summer transfer dealings in recent weeks, with many observers suggesting that not only did the club buy the wrong types of players to help the Blues succeed, they also allowed two key players to leave.
Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic played huge roles in Chelsea’s title win last year and now they are no longer about, questions are being asked about their replacements, Alvaro Morata and Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Hazard did acknowledge the changes but did not put any blame whatsoever on his new teammates.
We changed a couple of things, we lost players, we brought some new ones and every year is different. That’s why we love football — if there is only one team that wins it would be boring. That’s why football is special. You never know what’s going to happen, especially in England.
