Is Jose Mourinho right over a lack of protection driving Hazard out of England?

New Year’s Day provided a first for Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

It was the first time his Chelsea side conceded four goals – well five by full time actually, and the Blues saw their eight point lead at the top of the Premier League reduced to the rather humiliating alphabetical order after a brilliant couple of months by Manchester City – and one that by Chelsea’s standards, was lacking at best.

The Blues lost away at Newcastle United, saw a dogged Sunderland side frustrate them and took only a point from St Marys. All that paled in comparison to shipping five goals against Tottenham Hotspur – and despite scoring three, the west London side were taken apart and boss Mourinho knows it.

One shining light for the club in all of this has been the form of Eden Hazard, who has been simply magnificent and at times, single handedly created goals, scored goals and saved points.

That may not have been enough for his side this time and Mourinho has now added the protection of Hazard to his list of demands this season if the league officials want a fair title race – and even more than that, if the Premier League want to keep Hazard.

According to the Chelsea boss, Hazard will look for other clubs abroad if Premier League referees fail to provide him with the protection he needs and indeed deserves (according to his manager at least) and ‘one day we may not have Hazard’ to watch and fawn over.

It has to be said that whilst Mourinho may be magnifying certain decisions made by referees for his own agenda, there is no denying that the Blues have seen Hazard the recipient of a fair few late and contentious challenges, not to mention little fouls again and again, designed to break up his play and stop him in his tracks – and you cannot blame the opposition for that.

How else are they supposed to combat a man who can single handedly destroy defences and rip them apart?

It is not the opposition who have to be vilified – providing the challenges are clean of course – but the referees.

Mourinho is right to an extent. Hazard does deserve protection – and if you look at the standard of what constitutes a foul in Champions League football, international football or indeed other leagues around the world, he does not get it.

The English game has always had a more physical presence about it and that has been one of its main attributes but the fact remains, if we want to see players like Hazard remain in England, they have to be allowed to show us what they can do. And for that, protection is needed from officials.

Chelsea fans. Do you worry that Mourinho is right? How may decisions do you feel have gone against you in recent weeks? Let us know your thoughts below, become a guest blogger or tweet us @LaFootyettes.