LONDON: A hat-trick from Belgian magician Eden Hazard sent Chelsea top of the Premier League yesterday but coach Maurizio Sarri insisted other teams were better than his.
Chelsea thumped promoted Cardiff 4-1 for their fifth win of the season, keeping their 100 percent record and Sarri became only the fourth Premier League coach – after Carlo Ancelotti, Craig Shakespeare and Pep Guardiola – to win their first five games.
But Sarri is looking for better things from his squad. “At the moment for me Liverpool and Manchester City are better than us,” Sarri said. “I cannot change my mind after one match.”
Chelsea are ahead of Liverpool on a goal difference of one, and two points in front of champions Manchester City.
Liverpool showed their credentials in targeting a first title since 1990 are for real and such was the Reds’ dominance the scoreline did not do Jurgen Klopp’s men justice in winning 2-1 at Tottenham.
Manchester City remain just two points back, though, and looked back to their best in tearing apart Fulham 3-0 thanks to goals from Leroy Sane, David Silva and Raheem Sterling.
Liverpool’s first win away at Tottenham in four attempts for Klopp was another sign of the progress made under the German, particularly as they suffered a 4-1 thrashing at Wembley last season.
Manchester United punctured Watford’s bubble, withstanding late pressure from the surprise early league pacesetters to win 2-1 and relieve the pressure on beleaguered manager Jose Mourinho. United have endured a miserable start to the season, losing two of their first four matches and slipping well off the searing pace set by Liverpool, Chelsea and Watford themselves.
But two goals in three first-half minutes from in-form Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling gave them valuable breathing space at half-time and ultimately paved the way to a victory that ended Watford’s perfect record.
Mesut Ozil quietened his critics with his first goal since February as Arsenal continued to creep up the table with a 2-1 win at Newcastle.
Bournemouth moved up to fifth with an impressive 4-2 victory over 10-man Leicester with Ryan Fraser scoring twice.
And Wilfried Zaha underlined his importance to Crystal Palace with the only goal in his return from injury in a 1-0 win at Huddersfield.
“My target is to be the best team in England but not in one month,” said Sarri, who took over from compatriot Antonio Conte in the close season.
“We can improve...We are not so solid as I want in the defensive phase,” the Italian said, citing Cardiff’s early goal from an unmarked Sol Bamba.
Sarri said that when he arrived at Chelsea he thought Hazard was one of the best players in Europe. Now he thought the Belgian might even be the best. “But Hazard can improve more.”
He felt Hazard spent too much energy in the opponents’ half, collecting the ball when he could be working further upfield and scoring more goals.
Hazard’s first two goals came from layoffs by Olivier Giroud.
He hit the bottom corner after dancing round two defenders to shoot low in the 37th minute, then scored after the Frenchman held up the ball at full stretch in the 44th.
&uuid=(email))