• Premier League

Hazard settling into Chelsea life well

Eden Hazard is loving life at Chelsea © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Features: Hazard: Chelsea will recover from Super Cup loss
  
• News: Pardew: Hazard and Torres can win Chelsea the title
  
• News: RVP on target as United ride luck; Hazard off the mark
  
• News: RDM demands discipline after tense triumph
  

Eden Hazard says he is enjoying life at Chelsea after settling in quickly following his summer arrival at Stamford Bridge.

The Belgium international has adapted rapidly both on and off the pitch, and is building a strong rapport with his Blues team-mates.

"I've adapted very well to life in London. You're always a bit overawed when you arrive at a club with so many big names," Hazard was quoted as saying by the Sun. "But then you tell yourself, 'They are people like me with two arms and two legs'. Of course, I have respect for the players who are already here but it is down to me to tread my own path.

"I told myself it would be a new country, a new culture, a new language. But I had already changed countries when I went from Belgium to France, so I had made a similar step before. This is my third country and I came here to play football."

No aspect of Premier League has so far escaped the former Lille playmaker, as he explained.

"Like in every club, there's an initiation song. I sang a French rap song for them and made them laugh a lot, which is the main thing," he continued.

"Frank Lampard was laughing when I gave my first interview in English, so that must mean everyone was laughing. But it wasn't too bad for my first time speaking English. I managed to get two or three words out and you always get away with it when you smile.

"I'm lucky there are two or three Francophones in the squad - Petr Cech speaks French and obviously so does Florent Malouda."

Hazard's displays have garnered high praise and he has so far set up four goals for his new colleagues in his three Premier League games to date.

"I think my debut against Wigan could have been worse. It was my first game in the Premier League with all the intensity that goes with it," he said of the 2-0 win. "Of course, I did some good things in the first 15 minutes but not all was perfect. I still have to adapt to the English game.

"The game goes a bit quicker here, the reaction times are maybe a bit shorter, the challenges are stronger and the fans live for football, which is what I needed to feel.

"My first match at home (against Reading) was even better than the Wigan game. I'd never been to Stamford Bridge before, so to discover this super atmosphere and get a win was a great day for me.

"On the fourth goal, the Reading keeper had come out so it's true I could have tried to score. But I saw Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres were free. So I told myself, 'It will be my turn in the next game'. Ivanovic is a really nice guy so I said 'You can have that one!'"

Hazard scored his first goal for the club in Saturday's 2-0 win over Newcastle.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.