Arsenal: How do solve a Hazard like Eden?

Arsenal face Chelsea in the Europa League final on Wednesday night. If they are to win it, Unai Emery and his players must somehow solve the problem of Eden Hazard.

Eden Hazard is one of the very best footballers in the world. There are some that have made the argument that he was the best player in the Premier League last season, despite never really being mentioned as a potential PFA Player of the Year winner, as he led the league in assists with a sensational 15.

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Some question his consistency and application, perhaps fairly, but few are doubters of his ability. And it is that inexorable, unpredictable, unbridled ability that makes the impact that he can have on a single game of football so thoroughly frightening.

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There are few players that have the combination of explosive athleticism, exquisite balance, deceptive strength and superb skill and technique that Hazard does. He glides past defenders with consummate ease, swerving his way between a forest of tangled, uncontrolled legs as his float by like a figure skater carving their way through the ice. He then has the end product to follow. 16 goals and 15 assists in the Premier League last season. No player had a greater combined total.

So how do you solve a Hazard like Eden? How can you keep tabs on a player that is capable of the unruly? How do you prevent his brilliance from creating the moments that take the game from your control and thrust in way out in the distance, beyond any hope of recovery? It is a conundrum that Arsenal and Unai Emery will have to solve.

Wednesday night’s Europa League final pits two very evenly matched sides against one another. Their two respective meetings this season ended in a win for each and their campaigns have seen great peaks and troughs of form, with the pendulum undulating like the river that runs by them.

It is in these games that players like Hazard, players that are capable of extraordinary, take on a new level of significance. In just 90 minutes, the Belgian can do tremendous damage. And whatever damage he does do will leave little time for Arsenal to repair. There is no second leg. Not at this stage.

Emery has a few options. Man-mark and hope that his man can hang onto the coattails of their man. Double up on him at every opportunity with a wide centre-half and full-back. Or just ignore him, pretend then he is a normal player, remain disciplined in the collective defensive shape and simply hope that he does not make you pay.

None are perfect. All have their flaws. And Hazard, on his day, can beat them all. Sadly, it may not even matter what Emery decides to do. Solving a Hazard like Eden, then, is no mean feat, but it is precisely what Arsenal must do if they to win on Wednesday.