Mourinho sets conditions for Eden Hazards return to starting line-up

Chelsea Manager Jose Manager has ruled out any chance of Belgian Eden Hazard featuring for the side if he does not toe the line.

Hazard started on the bench against Aston Villa and Mourinho has vowed to keep it that way until he shows he is a team player.

The Chelsea Manager opted to name Willian and Pedro in his starting line-up instead of Hazard due to what he termed as their willingness to help  defensively

A first half strike by Diego  Costa and an own goal from Alan Hutton gave Chelsea their first win in three matches in the Premier League.

“I left out Hazard because we are conceding a lot of goals. It was a tactical decision. We needed midfield players to be concerned with being solid,” Mourinho is quoted by the Mirror as saying.

“I will continue leaving Hazard out until he comes to our direction and becomes a team player.”

“I told players this is not the moment to think about personal situation, or moan, or be selfish. It is a moment for the team. I have asked them to look at the picture in a different way so that we can get the right results,” he said.

The win moved Chelsea to seven points away from the relegation zone and Mourinho has exuded confidence that the win will mark a new start in their campaign and instead self belief to the players.

“We are not the best team in the country, but we are team with very good manager and very good players, trying to reaching a normal level.”

This was a performance to compensate for lack of confidence and self-esteem. When confident is not high you lose quality. We discussed that and tactically we were very disciplined  especially defensively.”

In other matches played on Saturday, Manchester United beat Everton 3-0, Arsenal beat Watford 3-0 while Tottenham drew 0-0 with Liverpool in Jurgen Klopp’s first match in charge of the Reds.

Manchester City beat Bournemouth 5-1 in a thrilling encounter that was mostly dominated by Raheem Sterling’s brilliance.

In his post match presser, Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini praised Raheem Sterling’s combination with Wilfried Bony that has helped cushion the club from feeling the absence of injured duo Sergio Aguero and David Silva.

Aguero could be out for a month with a hamstring injury while Silva is also likely to miss the Champions League visit of Sevilla on Wednesday and the first Manchester derby of the season against United at Old Trafford next Sunday.