Chelsea analysis: N'Golo Kante struggles in new position as Eden Hazard puts in worst performance of season

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Simon Johnson23 September 2018

Chelsea's perfect start to the season came to a halt as they were held to a goalless draw at West Ham.

Maurizio Sarri's side were looking to join Liverpool at the top of the Premier League on 18 points after six games, but they were denied by a resilient and enterprising display from their derby hosts.

Not even Eden Hazard, back in the side after being rested in Europe in midweek, could find a way to break the deadlock.

Indeed it was West Ham who could, and probably should, have taken all three points after creating by far the clearer chances.

Standard Sport's Simon Johnson was at the London Stadium to assess Chelsea's performance...

The rest didn’t do Eden Hazard much good

Ineffective: Hazard failed to fire Chelsea to victory at West Ham
Getty Images

Chelsea’s best player didn’t have to worry about Europa League duty in midweek after complaining about fatigue.

Coach Maurizio Sarri decided to leave the Belgium international back in London rather than taking him on a 2700 round trip to Thessaloniki.

Sarri must have hoped that Hazard, who went into the weekend’s fixtures top of the goal-scoring charts with five goals in as many games, would be fully fresh to take on West Ham.

But surprisingly Hazard put in his least effective performance of the season so far, with some of his passes and flicks failing to come off.

West Ham deserve a bit of the credit for this as they made sure there were plenty of bodies around him to snuff out his threat.

Naturally there were times when Hazard’s talent proved too good for the home side, but more often than not he was kept out of harm’s way.

The 27-year-old’s partnership with Olivier Giroud, which worked so well against Cardiff, was completely negated – as the mere four passes they exchanged in the first half demonstrates.

Question marks over N’Golo Kante’s position continue

Midfield puzzle: Kante has been pushed wide by Jorginho
Getty Images

Everyone knows Kante will look good and put in maximum effort no matter where he plays, but his new role for Chelsea is still a work in progress.

Kante forged a reputation as the best midfielder sitting in front of the defence arguably in the world let alone the Premier League.

Since Sarri’s general Jorginho was signed in the summer though, the France international has been moved to the right hand side of midfield in a more attacking position.

No-one can doubt his commitment to the cause, but Kante still doesn’t look as comfortable playing there.

There were times this afternoon where he was on the right flank attempting to cross the ball and his delivery was not up to it.

Remarkably he was in position a few times to head a ball at goal himself, but unsurprisingly he failed to find the target as he is not renowned for winning balls in the air.

Of course with Jorginho doing a fine job, Kante’s position won’t be moved back to his favoured position any time soon but one wonders if Chelsea are getting the best out of him.

Opportunity knocks for Gary Cahill after all

Cahill wouldn’t have wanted it this way but the sight of Antonio Rudiger limping off with injury could give him the first team football he has been craving.

On Friday the veteran centre half spoke of his desire to leave in January because he was not getting any game time.

But he had to come on in the second half here because Rudiger picked up a suspected groin problem which will probably see the German out of action for a few weeks at the least.

Andreas Christensen, who was left out of the squad here, will have a say in the matter, but Cahill will surely feature a lot more now.

Whether it is enough to make him change his mind, it’s unlikely. However, Sarri will argue that this was the reason he wanted to keep him around until the contract expires in the summer.

With back to back fixtures against Liverpool this week, Cahill will probably start one of the contests and look to prove himself once more.

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