Chelsea ride Hazard brace

Watford (England), Dec 27 (IANS) Eden Hazard scored a brace to give Chelsea a 2-1 victory against Watford and lift the former champions back into the top four of the English Premier League (EPL) at the mid-point of the 2018-2019 season.The win brings Chelsea to 40 points, 2 ahead of fifth-place Arsenal, who drew 1-1 with Brighton & Hove Albion earlier on Wednesday, reports Efe.The sides looked set to head to the dressing rooms 0-0 until a minute into first-half stoppage time, when Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic stole the ball in midfield and found Hazard in scoring position for the 1-0.But the advantage lasted barely two minutes, as Roberto Pereyra beat Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a low blast from outside the area to level the score at 1-1.The deadlock continued until Watford keeper Ben Foster tackled Hazard in the box in the 58th minute and the Belgian international converted the penalty to put Chelsea up 2-1.Despite the loss, Watford remain in the top half of the table with 27 points, while Chelsea find themselves just 4 points behind defending champions Manchester City in third place.For Hazard, the double increased his goal total with Chelsea to 101.
--IANS ajb/bg