Crystal Palace defender Joel Ward has described Eden Hazard as one of the toughest players he’s come up against and recalled a time the winger ran riot against him.
Hazard is no doubt one of the greatest players to play for Chelsea and he lit the Premier League up during his time at Stamford Bridge.
There were many occasions when the Belgian carried the Chelsea attack on his back and single handedly won games for the Blues.
Ward recalls being terrorised by Hazard
Chelsea have a really exciting bunch of attacking players at their disposal right now with Cole Palmer arguably the pick of the bunch.
If any of them can get close to the levels of Hazard then they will contribute massively to any success the Blues may have over the coming years.
However, whilst Chelsea possess dangerous wide players it’s no surprise to hear Palace defender Ward name Hazard as one of the toughest opponents he’s come up against as he recalled a time the Belgian terrorised him.
“He was a joke,” Ward told talkSPORT.
“Honestly, there was a moment we were playing Chelsea at theirs and Punch and me looked at each other at one point and we were like four-v-three and we just looked at each other just shaking our heads and going, ‘What are we supposed to do?’
“I don’t even know who we had to pick up! It was just kind of like chasing shadows. But he just picked up the ball and done what he wanted with it, moved you into areas where you couldn’t touch him.
“I think he’s definitely got to be up there.”
Chelsea fans would love any of the current attackers to reach that level although Hazard as a player was unique and such a joy to watch.
A number of the current crop would likely have watched Hazard growing up and would’ve tried to implement parts of his game into their own.