Eden Hazard has taken a veiled dig at Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho for his conduct last season after he was sacked midway through the campaign at Chelsea. The Portuguese manager led Chelsea to the Premier League title in the 2014/15 season, but failed to marshal his resources in the follwoing season and ended up at the bottom of the table before being sacked.

The Belgian midfielder was well below par last season and despite the introduction of Guus Hiddink at the helm, failed to find his form. However, he is back to his best under new manager Antonio Conte and attributed Chelsea's change in fortunes to the former Italy manager for his skills. The Blues are currently joint on points at the top of the table with both Manchester clubs, having won their opening three games.

"Conte puts trust in his players and now we are good after an ugly season last year. I've always been the same player but Conte knows how to treat players having played at the highest level himself," Hazard said, as quoted by the Mirror.

Meanwhile, Conte is satisfied with his transfer business on deadline day, having bought David Luiz and Marcos Alonso on the final day of the transfer window. Both players are likely to make their debut against Swansea this weekend, with Conte looking to take advantage of the Manchester derby, where either team, or both, are set to drop points.

"We reached two targets, two good signings for us in David Luiz and Marcos Alonso. Now we have to work with these two new players. I think that they can improve our squad. It was important to bring in a natural left-back because he is left footed and in this squad we have (just) three left-footed players," Conte said. "This is very important, this signing for us. He played in England (for Bolton and Sunderland) and for this reason he has a good experience of this league."

Eden Hazard
Hazard has attributed new manager Antonio Conte for Chelsea's change in fortunes Getty