Thierry Henry praises Antonio Conte for management of Eden Hazard

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Bengaluru, January 22: Thierry Henry lauds Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte for his management of star attacker Eden Hazard.

Chelsea were without a win this year after four matches and only secured a victory over Championship side Norwich City that too in a penalty shoot out and returned to winning ways this weekend against Brighton where Hazard starred, scoring twice in 4-0 win.

The Belgian was recently not seen in the best of form in the blue jersey and was even substituted by Conte against Leicester City after just 62 minutes which at the time was met with boos from some parts of the Chelsea fanbase as the match ended 0-0.

But now his return to form has been admired by Henry who has stated that Conte with his tactical decisions for Chelsea FC and management of Hazard in recent weeks has been instrumental in the resurrection.

"I like what Antonio Conte does," Henry said to Skysports.

"I watched the game against Leicester and they weren't scoring goals - Conte took him off. When you do that to a player like him with the quality he has, it woke him up. From the beginning today, he meant business.

"Conte did it last season ahead of a game with Arsenal and we all know what he did to Arsenal with that goal last year. I like the way Hazard reacted from the Leicester game.

"That's the job of the boss - sometimes a player might be tired, sometimes a player needs a reminder that he's not doing enough. I'm not saying Hazard wasn't. Usually when you take the main player off after an hour when you're supposed to win that game. It got the reaction of, 'OK, I'm on the bench, but we'll see next week'."

Chelsea are currently third on the table and will be in action again in the return leg of Carabao Cup against Arsenal at the Emirates.