Eden Hazard is far from an out-and-out striker, he’s actually not a forward at all – but, at present – he is leading Chelsea‘s attack from the false nine role.

Blues boss Antonio Conte once again deployed the 26-year-old into the furthest-forward attacking position for the 1-0 success over Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday – much like he did during the mid-week 3-1 win at Huddersfield.

Given his immense talent, you could make an argument to say Hazard could play virtually anywhere on the pitch, and on this evidence, he has been able to quickly adapt to a new-found spot that actually suits his make-up as a player. It should be mentioned the fitness, or lack of, of Alvaro Morata forced the Italian to re-think his team.

Hazard produced a strong showing, winning the set-piece with some superb skill which led to Marcos Alonso’s stunning first-half free-kick winner and then he had a second-half goal ruled out for offside.

Here, we look at the Belgian’s performance in-depth:

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BASIC STATS

Goals – 0

Assists – 0

Shots – 1

Shots on target – 0

Dribbles – 7

Passes – 45

Key passes – 2

Pass Accuracy – 80%

Touches – 65

Aerials Won – 0

EFFECTIVENESS

With the pace of Willian and Pedro either side of him, Hazard was able to drop deep and seek the ball at will – and then drive at the south coast side’s defence.

With top goalscorer Morata working his way back from injury, Hazard proved a handy deputee as a striker as the Blues kept the pressure on second-placed Manchester United in the Premier League table.

His link-up play, at times, was delicious and he teased Southampton when in possession in and around the penalty area. While this is the norm for Hazard when he operates in his preferred attacking midfield role – he delivered a timely reminder of his world-class ability.

At times, he dropped too deep into his natural playmaker position, when he should have been further up the pitch. In truth, Hazard will be disappointed he didn’t find the back of the net and make life a bit easier for Chelsea.

OUR VERDICT – 7/10

Conte has admitted he may well utilise Hazard more regularly in a fluid 3-4-2-1 system – but if Morata is back in the fold – it makes sense to keep things as they’ve been for large parts of the season.

If he truly wants to get the best out of Hazard – the playmaker really needs to drop back into a role behind the striker and let someone like Morata do the business in the final third.

That said, Southampton actually piled on the pressure late on and the Blues perhaps missed a player in the shape and form of Hazard who could dribble and take hold of the ball.

Overall, the former Lille star was comfortably Chelsea’s most effective player and they truly need him to be firing on all cylinders with tougher tests to come in the Premier League – and indeed the Champions League in 2018.

Hazard was replaced by Morata on 76 minutes.

All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com.