When it comes to accepting compliments, Hazard is nothing but humble, always keen to divert praise on to his team-mates. He knows as well the environment at Cobham helps get the best out of him.

‘The good thing with this dressing room is that we are always happy. Of course we don’t like to lose and we can be sad, but we keep going all the time and working together with a smile on our faces. That’s the good thing with Chelsea.’

It’s a sentiment he reiterates when we ask him for a message for Blues fans at this special time of year.

‘Keep supporting Chelsea in good moments and bad. In England the league is very hard, we can win or lose, but we are Chelsea and in the future we will win trophies again for sure.

‘All over the world, enjoy Christmas and enjoy New Year. Be careful, because these celebrations can be a bit hard sometimes, but keep enjoying football and I will try to make you happy.’

Within hours he’s delivering on that target yet again.

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It’s the evening of our Carabao Cup tie with Bournemouth. Half-an-hour remains, and the teams are deadlocked. Maurizio Sarri turns to his main man. The biggest cheer of the night so far welcomes Hazard on to the pitch. He’s quickly in the thick of the action, driving Chelsea forward, getting a couple of long-distance shots away.

There are six minutes left when another sub, Pedro, initiates a move wide left. He finds Hazard, who returns the pass. Pedro’s backheel is left by Emerson for the onrushing Hazard to force into the net. It’s a perfect example of the combination play between the lines Pedro brought up a couple of days earlier.

There is still time for Hazard to set up very good chances for Emerson and Olivier Giroud to double our lead, but one goal proves enough. Our two-legged meeting with Tottenham next month will be the 10th semi-final we have contested since our brilliant Belgian joined.