Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes the
arrival of Pedro Rodriguez will help Eden Hazard to
rediscover his peak form when Crystal Palace visit
Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Last weekend's win at West Bromwich Albion was
Chelsea's first of the Premier League campaign and prompted the champions' manager Jose Mourinho to shout into a pitchside microphone at the final whistle.
But Mourinho's side will not be able to declare
their title defence up and running unless they can
follow that with victory over a Palace side who
have continued where they left off last season.
Chelsea were fortunate to hold on against Albion
following the dismissal of John Terry, the club's
second red card in the opening three games, but
the form of Pedro on his debut provided an
undoubted high point.
The former Barcelona winger scored and provided
an assist and Courtois believes the presence of the
Spain international will be a huge benefit to
Belgium playmaker Hazard.
Hazard, last season's player of the year, has
struggled to find his best form during the opening
weeks.
But Courtois told the Evening Standard: "Pedro's
arrival is good for Eden. Whenever Eden got the
ball before, you knew that two or three players
would go with him to try to stop him. The
defenders were always close to him.
"Of course, we have other players with quality but
opponents would cover Eden most of all.
"Now we have Pedro, the defenders can't just stay
with Eden because they will know the other side is
free for him to exploit, as well as for players like
Willian and our top strikers.
"Defenders will now have to think more about
where and who they are going to press. That
should mean there will always be a man free on
the other side."
CUTTING EDGECertainly Chelsea have lacked a cutting edge up
front and a return to form for Hazard will provide a
major lift as Mourinho's side attempt to keep pace
with early leaders Manchester City.
"Of course, the start is not what we wanted but
there is still a long way to go. People are talking
about the defence but last season we started off
conceding a lot of goals, too," Courtois said.
"Maybe we still need to find the right balance
between attacking and defending. We are playing
with a really high line, so there is more danger of
being hit on a counter attack.
"It will be a tough race and City have started the
best of all the top teams. But we will look to close
the gap as soon as possible and then try and get a
lead like we had last year. Hopefully, we will be
champions again."
Alan Pardew's Palace are certainly capable of
troubling Chelsea on the counter-attack and they
will be strengthened by the return of winger
Yannick Bolasie, who missed last weekend's
victory over Aston Villa following the death of his
father.
"He has lost his father and of course that affects
any human being and any family, and he's dealing
with his family," Pardew said.
"He'll be involved on Saturday because he wants
to be involved. Because his father went to every
game. I think that's good for us, it'll be good for
him and his family.
"The player's welfare is in good shape, the frame
of mind. We're very pleased that he's dealing with
it so well."
Palace, though, will be without Mile Jedinak who
has picked up a hamstring injury that is also likely
to keep him out of Australia's forthcoming
internationals.
"Mile has a little hamstring problem. He definitely
won't be involved in this game," Pardew added.
"That looks like two or three weeks to me. He'll
miss the international break too."
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