Over six months later, and this is still one of the best goals scored in the Premier League this season.
By late October, the attacking combination between Juan Mata and Eden Hazard wasn’t quite as developed as it would become over the course of the year, but never did the two of them combine better than they did here.
It’s actually a really simple goal, but it’s delightfully executed. Mata plays the ball inside to John Obi Mikel, and immediately takes-off looking for the space behind the Tottenham defence – almost completely unnoticed by Kyle Walker. Mikel then casually squares the ball to Hazard, who in turn one-times a perfect through-ball back into the path of the advancing Spaniard.
Hazard makes this look simple, but to have the vision and touch to cut Spurs open like that and put his teammate in alone on Brad Friedel took a special type of quality. Maybe part of what makes this so effective is how quickly the Belgian turns a pedestrian-looking move into a scoring opportunity – in a blink of an eye, he injects a dose of urgency which bewildered the home side.
It’s so quick, and the margins in play here are so fine – video below.
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