Chelsea captain John Terry has praised winger Eden Hazard after the Belgian provider yet another inspirational performance to help the club win.
The blues took on Stoke City at Stamford Bridge looking to put an end to the poor home form they have been showing in the last few months. Even though Chelsea remain the only unbeaten home team in all of English football, they have managed only two wins in the last five matches. Another set of dropped points would have been a huge setback for the club in the efforts to win the league title.
The blues do have a comfortable six-point advantage, but it was reduced to four points after Arsenal moved into second spot following their victory over Liverpool. It was of paramount importance that Chelsea managed to bring back the seven-point advantage over Arsenal and possibly extended to nine points over Manchester City. For long periods of the match, it looked like the blues may drop more points, as they did not look convincing in attack. However, two moments of magic from Hazard – through a goal and an assist – set up three more points and took Chelsea one step closer towards the title.
Terry later praised Hazard as someone on the same level as superstars Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. "He was excellent. He has been our best player by a long way this year and in those games when you are looking for a bit of extra, a bit of magic from someone he is the one who steps up and managed to create something. He is up there with the (Lionel) Messi's and (Cristiano) Ronaldo's and can still get better and better. It was a tough game, we knew it was going to be difficult. It is the old cliche but it is ticking a box then moving on,” said Terry.