Eden Hazard has been talking about Mauricio Pochettino and how he believes the Argentine is the right man to lead Chelsea forward in their ambitious long-term project

Eden Hazard “loves” Mauricio Pochettino and has emphatically backed the Chelsea head coach to succeed at the club. Pochettino has been at Stamford Bridge for seven months now but has already faced different spells of pressure.

The pressure on the Argentine has slightly eased after recent games, with Chelsea unbeaten in their last three matches in all competitions. After back-to-back victories against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, the Blues picked up a really impressive point away at champions Manchester City at the weekend.

For the club, sacking Pochettino has never been close, as reported by football.londonlast month. Chelsea have always seen the Argentine as the right man to lead the club’s ambitious project, that is going to require some time before we see the end results.

For Pochettino, it has been about consistency. He has had a lack of it from his players thus far this season, but in recent matches, the head coach has gotten what he asked for in that regard, with Chelsea stepping it up at the right time. If he can continue to get consistency out of his players, then that is undeniably ‘progress’ – something the owners need to see on a frequent basis.

Hazard believes his former club are on the right track under Pochettino. The 33-year-old, who retired from professional football just over 12 months ago, is completely behind the Chelsea head coach but also thinks the Premier League is incredibly challenging right now.

Speaking to former Chelsea teammate Jon Obi Mikel, on the Obi One Podcast, Hazard said: “As a Chelsea fan, you want them to be first. You want them to win every game. I think they have a good manager, I love Pochettino. I think he can bring the team back to where it should be, but the Premier League is so hard.”

Pochettino has relied on Cole Palmer at times this season to produce the magic when Chelsea need him the most. The 21-year-old signed from Manchester City last summer for £42.5million, a price that people said at the time seemed too steep, but has since proven to be somewhat of a bargain deal for the Blues.

Palmer has been directly involved in 21 goals for Chelsea in all competitions during his debut season with the club. Twelve of those have been goals, with five coming from the penalty spot. Hazard thinks Palmer has got a hard time with almost half of his goals being from 12 yards out, but he knows better than most just how daunting and challenging it can be to score a penalty.

“Cole Palmer is a top, top player,” Hazard said. “You know left-footers at times have something magical. You have to score penalties, man. People just say penalties are easy – go and shoot! It’s not that easy.”

In fact, Pochettino, when speaking in his pre-match press conference last week, even admitted he was surprised with just how quickly Palmer has settled in at Stamford Bridge. “Yes [surprised about how quickly Palmer has settled],” the Chelsea head coach said.

“He is a player that is, I don’t want to be wrong, but today when the staff said to me, ‘He’s from Manchester, but he looks like [he is from] Brazil or Argentina, or has the capacity to be able to adapt so quick’. One of our strengths, Argentinian people, Brazilian people and American people; we came to Europe and adapt very quick.

“Some people think he came from Manchester to the south and it’s so difficult to adapt because of the weather, the language, and they suffered. But for him he arrived at the club and for him that is the key. He adapted very quick to the life here in Cobham, in London, in the south and the club. That makes him show his talent.”