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Courtois: Hazard will need time to find form

Cape Town - Eden Hazard will need time to rediscover his sparkling form from last season, believes Belgium and Chelsea team-mate Thibaut Courtois.

Hazard made substitute appearances for his country in World Cup qualifying wins over Gibraltar and Greece during the international break, in his first competitive minutes of the season so far.

The 26-year-old missed Chelsea’s opening three games as he recovered from the broken ankle suffered on international duty last June.

But despite Hazard being in contention to feature against Leicester City on Saturday, Courtois has warned that Chelsea’s reigning Player of the Year won’t be back to his best straight away.

“We cannot forget he was injured for four months, he had surgery,” Courtois told Sky Sports.

"You cannot expect - if he plays on Saturday, which is up to the manager - if he gets minutes you will see his quality but maybe he is not at his top form like he was last season and you cannot forget that.

"You have to go little by little I think. We are excited to have him back and I was happy to have him on the pitch with me against Gibraltar and Greece.

"I hope we can see the best Eden Hazard very soon."

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