Eden Hazard Underlines Gap in Class Between Chelsea and Arsenal

LONDON — There was no need to ask either manager who or what proved the difference in Chelsea's 2-0 defeat of Arsenal on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.

It was clear. Eden Hazard was it.

The Belgian was at his masterful best, proving a significant thorn in the side of Arsene Wenger as Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho extended his unbeaten run against the Arsenal boss to 12 matches.

More significantly, Chelsea's win puts them nine points clear of the Gunners in the Premier League table, and we've only just entered October.

Mourinho may suggest otherwise, but Chelsea are threatening to run away with the title, remaining the only unbeaten side in the top flight, and they're in red-hot form.

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

It's Hazard they have to thank for their latest victory.

"[Hazard] was good. Very good," was Mourinho's summary of his performance.

"Today I liked it very, very much. To be fair, in these matches, you need one of your top players to take some magic cards out of his pocket, and he did it when the game was zero-zero, when the game was tight.

"He did an action that could finish the game. If it's penalty and red card instead of penalty and yellow card [for Laurent Koscielny]—game over.

"Eden did that for us, and on top of that, he scores a penalty.

"He had one or two opportunities in the second half, and his defensive work was really good, keeping the ball when we needed. I think it was a very positive performance by him."

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Indeed, Mourinho's assessment of Hazard's display perfectly summed up the difference between these two teams.

Any fans turning up to Stamford Bridge hoping for another 6-0 whitewash would have been disappointed.

Wenger had learned his lesson, and his Arsenal team was far more compact. Yet this match was just as significant in outlining why Chelsea are leading the way in the Premier League and Arsenal continue to underachieve.

Back in March, Chelsea's 6-0 humbling of Wenger's side was a freak result, a result that happens "once every 50 years," as Mourinho had explained ahead of this latest encounter.

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When your best players consistently produce the goods when it matters, your team will win more games than it loses, though. That's not a freak occurrence or something that happens by chance. It's simple football arithmetic.

For differing reasons, Mourinho and Wenger have found that out once more.

Whereas Hazard—and Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa, who scored again in Chelsea colours—was exceptional, Arsenal's big names didn't turn up at Stamford Bridge. Again.

Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez are supposed to be the jewels in Arsenal's crown, but right now the duo are looking like duds.

Costing a combined £78 million, neither player is yet to justify his billing.

Sanchez is still finding his feet in the Premier League after his summer move from Barcelona, but there can be no such excuses for Ozil.

Arsenal paid the transfer fees they did for the duo to prove the difference in games against the likes of Chelsea. Without them, they were already beating the lesser opponents with ease, but their rivals proved a struggle.

Nothing has changed.

While Mourinho's stars are pulling out their magic cards, as he puts it, Arsenal's are keeping them buried deep in their pockets, rarely suggesting they will ever reveal them.

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Ozil was woeful against Chelsea, lacking the drive and desire to create much in front of goal. He was mastered by Branislav Ivanovic. And when he switched flanks for a period, he proved equally ineffective against Cesar Azpilicueta.

The fact Arsenal didn't register one effort on target in the entire 90 minutes tells its own story.

Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes when some fans reportedly smuggled flares into the away end. It proved a point of frustration to the 41,000 supporters inside Stamford Bridge, but then maybe those Arsenal fans were trying to send Wenger a message.

This was an epic game, and given their recent record, perhaps the Arsenal fans knew the flair would be missing, so they brought some of their own.

To Arsenal's dismay, Ozil floundered in the face of scrutiny.

Hazard didn't.

Now the campaign is beginning to take shape, so too is Chelsea's £32 million man. It's his third year in west London, and he continues to grow into the player Chelsea hoped he would when they won the race to bring him to Stamford Bridge in 2012.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

He's a match-winner, and with players of his ilk, few should be surprised Chelsea are running clear at the top.

Hazard and Co. are threatening to make the title race boring. If he and his teammates continue the way they are, we shouldn't expect anything like 2013/14 when any one of four teams had realistic ambitions of lifting the Premier League trophy.

As for Arsenal, their troubles continue.

*All quotes taken firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes