Eden Hazard: Drawing with Spurs was highlight of last season

If Mauricio Pochettino needed any bulletin board material for Tottenham’s upcoming match at Stamford Bridge, Eden Hazard just provided it.

In an interview released Friday, the Chelsea forward told The Guardian that his best memory of the past year was knowing the 2-2 draw in the so-called “Battle of the Bridge” had “wounded” Tottenham.

“I was on the bench, we were losing 2-0 at the break and had been up against it, and at half-time we were in that dressing-room saying: ‘Lads, it’s 26 years since we last lost to Tottenham here. This isn’t the day that record is going to end.’

Even a 2-2 draw felt like a victory because it had been such a difficult season, and we knew we had wounded our local rivals in Tottenham.”

In case you’ve forgotten, that match got a little... out of hand. During a melée just before the break, Mousa Dembélé poked Diego Costa in the eye, leading to a six-game ban. Tottenham racked up an impressive 20 fouls and a Premier League-record nine yellow cards. There were plenty of afters at the final whistle, including Michel Vorm losing his damn mind and attempting to fight the entire Chelsea team.

Hazard scored an admittedly-impressive goal to erase Spurs’ 2-0 lead. The result handed Leicester the title and begun the death spiral that saw Spurs finish third. Still, this comes across as more than a little petty, especially considering how disappointing last season was for both Chelsea and Hazard individually. The Belgian scored just six goals all season, 13 fewer than the year before, while Chelsea mounted the worst title defense in Premier League history, finishing 10th.

This is also a man who’s won the league, League Cup, Europa League, Young Player of the Year and two Player of the Year awards during his time at Chelsea. Clinging to the idea that a draw had “wounded” a rival was the kind of thing Spurs fans used to do when we were crap and Arsenal were winning everything in sight. Sorry Eden, but that’s a small-club mentality m8.

Spurs head back to Stamford Bridge for what should be a tasty rematch on Saturday, November 26.