The biggest star of Matchweek 5 in the Premier League -- the first matchweek of ESPN Fantasy Soccer -- was clearly Eden Hazard. The Chelsea midfielder scored a hat trick in his team's 4-1 victory over Cardiff City and finished with a whopping 45.6 fantasy points.
Five games into the season, Hazard has accumulated 117.4 fantasy points -- nearly 26 more than Sergio Aguero (91.6) in second place. He has a league-leading five goals, also has two assists, and is tied for fourth in the league with 11 chances created. And Hazard didn't even start in Chelsea's first two games, as he was given extra rest after Belgium's deep run in the World Cup this summer.
The question is, can Hazard keep this level of production up -- particularly in terms of goals?
His new manager, Maurizio Sarri, certainly thinks so. Here's a quote from Sarri after the game on Saturday:
"I thought Hazard was one of the best players in Europe, but now I am changing my mind that he is the best," Sarri said. Later in the same news conference, Sarri added, "I told [Hazard] for me he can score 40 goals."
Forty goals! To put that in some perspective, Mohamed Salah set a new Premier League record by scoring 32 goals last season.
To put that in some more perspective, Hazard scored 12 goals in the Premier League last season, and has never scored more than 16 league goals in six seasons with the club.
Sarri may have gotten a little carried away, or he may just be trying to pump up his star player. But there are reasons to believe Hazard's goal tally will spike considerably this season -- starting with the presence of Sarri himself.
Previous manager Antonio Conte was much more conservative and defensive-minded. Chelsea only scored 62 goals last season, and finished in fifth place. Sarri's Napoli side scored 77 goals on their way to pushing Juventus for the Scudetto, falling four points short but setting a record for the most points by a second-place team in Serie A.
Sarri actually wants Hazard to do less in terms of tracking back and getting involved in the midfield areas, and focus on producing in the final third of the pitch. "Spend less energy far from the goal and play in the last 25 meters," Sarri said he told Hazard, in another quote from that postmatch news conference.
This should be music to Hazard's ears, and certainly to the ears of fantasy players. And the results thus far speak for themselves.
Five goals in five games obviously puts Hazard on pace to smash Salah's record, although it's very early days. But it's more than just the goals. Hazard has also taken 14 shots -- nearly three shots per game -- despite only coming on in the 76th minute in the season opener, and the 61st minute the week after that. Last season Hazard took only 71 shots in 34 games, barely more than two per game.
Furthermore, Hazard has 250 touches in the final third of the pitch through the first five weeks of the season -- 50 touches per game, and a staggering 81 touches more than David Silva in second place! Hazard finished fifth in touches in the final third last season, but he only averaged 34.9 per game.
There are plenty more reasons to like Hazard this season, too. Chelsea are not in the Champions League, so the Premier League will be their primary focus, and Hazard won't need to be rested ahead of big European games. Also, Hazard is Chelsea's primary penalty taker, which obviously helps in terms of goal production. In fact, his third goal against Cardiff on Saturday was a penalty kick.
And there's no evidence yet that we'll see a big dip from Hazard in terms of the other fantasy categories. He only had four assists last season, and he already has two this year. Hazard was fourth in the league in chances created last season, with 84 in 34 games, or just under 2.5 per game. He's averaging 2.2 per game so far this season, despite the lack of minutes in the first two games. And he may even be better in terms of passes completed. Last season Hazard was ranked 56th in the league in that category, picking up 3.4 fantasy points per game via passes completed. So far this season he is ranked 20th, picking up 5.2 fantasy points per game via passes completed.
Hazard was already a very good fantasy player -- he would have finished 13th in the Premier League in total fantasy points last season. But this year he has the potential to be a fantasy superstar -- one of the top, if not the top, Tier 1 midfielder choices every week, unless Chelsea has a particularly difficult matchup.
Sarri's done something like this before. He helped turn Dries Mertens, another Belgian, from a five-goal scorer in Sarri's first season with Napoli to a 28-goal scorer in his second season and an 18-goal scorer in his third.
He also may have unlocked more potential by starting Olivier Giroud at center forward instead of Alvaro Morata against Cardiff. Hazard and Giroud linked up beautifully, with Giroud providing the assist on each of Hazard's goals from open play.
I don't know if Hazard will have another hat trick this season -- this was only his second since joining Chelsea in 2012. And I highly doubt he's going to score 40 goals, or anywhere close.
But I wouldn't be surprised if Hazard finishes with between 20 and 30 goals. That would make for a career year, and make him a staple in your fantasy lineup.