Thursday 10 March 2016 18:09, UK
Diego Costa is thriving under Guus Hiddink but Eden Hazard is still struggling. We look at the pair's contrasting fortunes under the Dutchman...
Diego Costa's fine finish against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night may have been in vain but it was a further example of the forward's return to form under Guus Hiddink.
Costa's first-half strike was his 11th in 15 games under the Dutchman. That's some improvement on his return of four in 21 before Hiddink's arrival.
However, while Costa is heading back to his best, Eden Hazard continues to struggle and was booed from the field by some Chelsea fans.
The pair were key figures in Chelsea's march to the title last season and both slumped at the start of this campaign, as Jose Mourinho's champions made the worst-ever start to a Premier League defence.
But while Costa has driven himself out of his bad run of form through his typical mix of belligerence and brilliance, his Belgian team-mate seems stuck.
In Hiddink's first game in charge, a 2-2 draw with Watford, Costa scored twice. It set the tone and, since the change of management, the Spaniard has scored more goals, made more assists and increased the rate at which he's shooting, creating chances and putting away his opportunities in the Premier League.
Over the past three-and-a-half months Costa has hounded and harried defenders, thrown himself into physical battles and rolled up his sleeves to turn his and Chelsea's fortunes around. The sight of him pulling off his protective mask and tossing it away against PSG summed up his spirit.
"I'm very proud of him, the way he's playing and, going not over the edge, but he likes to fight in the real way of the game," Hiddink said ahead of the last-16 second leg.
"That's what we like. I protect him and support him when he's doing what he has done in my period at Chelsea. In the Premier League he frequently is scoring now, since December, January."
It's difficult to put a brake on him. Costa wants to play every game, but I must be careful with that. Who am I to stop this man? We must let him go, but sometimes I have to put on a leash.
There's been no such improvement in Hazard's statistics. In fact, last season's player of the year has seen his numbers in key attacking categories drop since Hiddink's arrival.
The 25-year-old has had groin and hip problems this term but he's still played 34 times in the Premier League and Champions League. His return has been a meagre four assists and no goals.
Of course, Hazard is not a bruising, all-action battler like Costa. That's not his style. But, aside from his struggles for form, half-time shirt swapping with Angel Di Maria and telling the French press he would struggle to refuse advances from PSG have done little to win him sympathy with the Chelsea support.
Missing the decisive penalty in Chelsea's Capital One Cup shoot-out defeat to Stoke was forgiveable. So, too, perhaps, is a young player's failure to match the extremely high standards he set last year.
But, in changing shirts with Di Maria in the midst of Chelsea's desperate bid to save their season, it feels like Hazard's latest PR slip-up was one step too far.
"I think it's a joke," Tony Cottee told Sky Sports News HQ. "It's not the first time we've seen it - he's not the only player to have done it. But clubs issue rules at the start of the season about all sorts of things you can and can't do. Surely one of them should be that you do not swap shirts at half-time.
"It's an insult to the Chelsea fans. It's not even as if he's done it in the tunnel. It's blatant in front of everyone. I'm a big fan of Hazard when he's playing well - which he hasn't been this year."
It's an insult to the Chelsea fans. I'm a big fan of Hazard when he's playing well - which he hasn't been this year.
Fellow pundit Tony Gale is adamant Hazard "wants away" - but his numbers this season are hardly those of a player Real Madrid, PSG or other European heavyweights would normally chase.
Perhaps Hazard should take a look at team-mate Costa for an example of how to turn his struggles around.
Can Eden Hazard recapture the form we saw last season? Let us know using the message boards or by tweeting @SkyFootball
