Dependable. Unfailing. Brilliant: Why Eden Hazard should win PFA Player of the Year
Consistency is boring. Eden Hazard makes it fun.
There are but a few certainties Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho can count on in his life. The sun will rise when he wakes. He and Arsene Wenger will, at some point, exchange verbal blows. And through everything, Hazard will be there.
The Belgian winger is the favorite to capture the Premier League’s highest individual honor this season, and it would be nothing short of a travesty should he be left empty-handed when the PFA Player of the Year award is bestowed this evening in London.
Sure, the other candidates are deserving.
Alexis Sanchez has been marvelous in his first season, in England carrying Arsenal early in the campaign – much in the same manner that David De Gea did at Manchester United. Harry Kane’s rise to prominence has been astounding, while Diego Costa and Philippe Coutinho are fully deserving of their nominations.
But the Chilean has slowed, if just slightly, in the latter half of the campaign. De Gea, for all his brilliance, plays a position that is restricted in terms of influence. It’s not fair, but that’s simply the way it is. Kane’s meteoric rise dominated headlines, and yet Tottenham still remains embroiled in a fight for Europa League places. Coutinho was the most surprising nominee of the bunch, given Liverpool’s struggles, while Costa hasn’t been on the pitch quite enough to warrant the distinction as the league’s best.
And then there’s Hazard.
Always there. Always influential. Always dazzling. Consistently.
As Michael Cox points out, it’s becoming something of a habit for the 24-year-old to be in this position:
In his four full Ligue 1 seasons, twice he won the Young Player of the Year award, and the other two seasons he won the overall award. In the final three seasons, he was in Ligue 1's team of the year.
Since moving to Chelsea, he won the Young Player of the Year award last year, was nominated for the overall award in both campaigns, as well as being in the PFA Team of the Year. Therefore, by the end of this campaign, it should be six seasons in a row in the Team of the Year, and six out of seven collecting an individual award.
He’s started every Premier League match this season, playing the full 90 minutes on all but four occassions. He's rarely substituted. He's never dropped. He's never injured. The latter, despite being the most fouled player in the league by quite some margin - his 96 fouls suffered are 17 more than his nearest rival, Raheem Sterling.
That strength and durability, aided by the fact that his relatively small frame is powered by two pistons for legs, is mightily impressive. As are his numbers.
With 13 goals and eight assists on the campaign, Hazard breathes rarefied air amongst the world's most versatile, influential attacking players this season.
Only four other men can boast at least those same numbers in their respective leagues. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Alexis Sanchez. That’s it. That’s all.
With 2.8 key passes per 90 minutes, he ranks seventh in the Premier League. His 4.9 successful dribbles - measured by that same metric - are second in England's top flight. Only six players have more goals. More assists? Cut that number in half.
Almost every other player in the EPL has come under some criticism for an extended run of poor form at some point. Hazard? Not quite. His longest spell of the season without a goal or an assists runs just two matches.
Consistency.
What is Chelsea without Hazard? It’s a team that relies solely on notorious mid-season struggler Cesc Fabregas and the paper mache hamstrings of Diego Costa to try and push them towards the Premier League title. It’s a team without a spark.
It’s a team, quite simply, that isn’t on the brink of the Premier League title.
Hazard is the best, most important player on the club that is running away with – and will, in very short order, capture – the Premier League title.
It sounds overly simplistic. Sometimes, as is the case here, these decisions are just that easy.