Free-scoring Hazard not fussed by Chelsea records

Eden Hazard may have enjoyed his most prolific Premier League season to date in a Chelsea shirt, but the 26-year-old playmaker insists he is not bothered by the number of goals next to his name in the record books.

The Belgian notched up his 15th league goal of the season on Tuesday, opening the scoring in the Blues’ 4-2 home victory over Southampton, which piled the pressure back on Spurs ahead of their Wednesday evening trip to Crystal Palace.

That means that with a handful of games still remaining, Hazard has topped his tally of 14 Premier League strikes from both the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons – when he won the PFA Young Player of the Year and then the PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards.

But Hazard, now in his fifth season at Stamford Bridge but a target for Real Madrid in the summer, is adamant he only wants to help Chelsea to the league title.

“I don’t care about the number of goals I get,” he said. “Statistics aren’t important for me.

“If my goals help my team win games; that’s important. I just want to take the trophy at the end of the season. If I can score a few more goals this season, that would be good.

“I am happy with what I am doing on the pitch, with my movement and everything. I said a few weeks ago there are many similarities with what I did two years ago in the title-winning year.

“Southampton was a difficult match, like so many in the Premier League. It’s always good to play before Tottenham so we put pressure on them.

“We had a chance to score a goal at the end of the first half and we managed to do it.

“We were able to control the match from the start of the second half, but they continued to try to push forward and that gave us a bit of space in behind. In the end, we are happy.”