Oscar, Hazard and Mata: Chelsea’s Holy Trinity?

Finally, the Barclays Premier League is back after the international break. And 8 matches into the league, Chelsea occupy the top position which comes as a surprise to many. Many people had predicted that the league would stay in Manchester with both City and United fighting it out for the title. It may be too early to conclude but as of now it looks as if Chelsea is the team to beat.

And the main reason for it has been Chelsea’s midfield. Mata, Hazard and Oscar have gelled well together and RDM’s decision of playing all three together has proved to be a masterstroke. If the title comes back to west London, you can be rest assured that these three will have a crucial role to play.

Oscar and Hazard have adapted to the Premier League like fish to water. Hazard was expected to do well considering he was already playing in Europe and has already been the French league player of the year twice. But Oscar has come as a surprise to many. He was expected to do well too, but he has impressed many in his first season only. It is always difficult for a player so young coming from the stylish Brazilian league to the physical English league. It usually takes them an entire season to adapt.

Chelsea will have to depend on these three not only for creating chances and feeding Fernando Torres, but also for finishing and scoring goals. Chelsea has only two strikers in their squad. And with Daniel Sturridge unlikely to feature in RDM’s plans, it leaves only Fernando Torres as the lone striker and many Chelsea fans will agree with me when I say he isn’t the most reliable striker at the moment. This will make the role of these three even more important!

Also, if both Torres and Sturridge are unavailable due to some reason, this would leave RDM with no other option other than adopting the Spanish approach of playing the false number 9. These three will again then be crucial for Chelsea’s hopes along with Marin and Moses, who would then be required to play a more crucial role. But it would have to be either Hazard or Oscar playing that false number 9.

Frank Lampard, too, isn’t getting any younger and with rumors going around of him leaving for LA Galaxy in the January transfer window, then again the burden of goals which Lampard used to score will lie on them. Lampard has scored many crucial Chelsea goals over the years, and, not to forget, he has also been a free kick specialist and a reliable penalty taker for Chelsea.

If Chelsea are to challenge for the title this season and also become the first team to retain the champions league, then no doubt that these three will indeed be the holy trinity. Expectations from them are indeed high but so far they have lived up to it and as a Chelsea fan I sincerely hope they can carry on!