An afternoon of truth and dare for the leading light of the season so far. First, Eden Hazard’s revelations for his BT Sport broadcast audience before kick-off. “I’ll tell you the truth,” he said, a statement designed to grab attention. The truth? “After the World Cup I wanted to leave,” Hazard confessed of a turbulent summer leading into this, his seventh year at Chelsea.

There have been more startling unburdenings, but to hear his dilemmas spelled out, explicit, suggested a man confident in the backing and faith of his current constituents, supporters of a club where staying power is relative, where managers come and go, and, lately, where champions collapse into brittle curmudgeons biennially.

Yet from the perspective of a warm late September afternoon in