Vincent Kompany has joked that he wishes Eden Hazard “has diarrhoea” so that the Chelsea forward cannot face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
City can take a five-point lead over the champions if they beat José Mourinho’s side. Manuel Pellegrini’s team defeated West Bromwich Albion 3-0 on Monday after Chelsea could only draw 2-2 with Swansea City in their Premier League opener.
Kompany is aware of the threat carried by his Belgium team-mate Hazard, who was voted both the PFA and the Football Writers’ player of the year last season. “You’d almost hope that Eden Hazard would have diarrhoea,” the City joked to Het Nieuwsblad. “Now let’s be serious. You can’t underestimate the impact he has on Chelsea. And then you’ll expect he would have a dip in his performance level. Last week, against Swansea, he maybe didn’t play his best first half, but when they were reduced to ten, he was the only one who was dangerous. Because he ran past three-four defenders.
“You can have a many tactical plans as you want, if Eden starts running, it is chaos. He’s at a level where he decides how good his team are. [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo are stats animals. If you look at their talent, you can compare Eden to them. But they score a lot. Unbelievable.”
Kompany believes Hazard may match them. “Could I say he will never reach their scoring levels? I would never bet on that. Eden has made so much progression that last few years that it is possible he reaches their level. It wouldn’t even be a bad performance when he ends up just behind Messi and Ronaldo.”
City are determined to challenge seriously for the title. “I didn’t like the way we ended our last season and I like a challenge. That was for me a sign: I want to prove that I still can do it. I can now understand why defenders say they feel top when they’re on the pitch, certainly when you become older. That’s why I started training earlier this summer. I wanted to be fit. My best years are still to come. Look at John Terry. Four years ago they said he could retire. But last year he was one of the better defenders in the Premier League.
“Chelsea became champions last season, so they’re still the best team. It’s a nice challenge for us. Last season we were the better team twice [against them], but in the end we failed and they got away with the better result,” Kompany said of the two 1-1 draws. “If we play a dominant game again, it will be fantastic, but the three points are more important.
“Thibaut Courtois is suspended,” the 29-year-old continued. “He’s an exceptional talent, an unbelievable goalkeeper, who has won some many trophies at his age. He has been successful wherever goes and always has his part in it too. He looks very self-assured, what’s very important for a defence too. I think Chelsea will miss him. But as Chelsea always plays in a good organisation, I bet they’ll find a solution.”
