Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard will reportedly be missing the Blues final game of the season against Sunderland due to him recovering from a recent dental surgery.
The 24-year-old Belgian, who has picked up three personal accolades this season in the form of the PFA, FWA and Barclays Premier League Player of the Season awards, had an emergency dental surgery on Wednesday to extract three wisdom teeth.
As a result, Hazard, who is reportedly in immense pain following the surgery, was unable to attend the Football Writers' Association dinner on Thursday where he was due to receive the Footballer of the Year Award.
FWA announced the news on their website confirming that the player will also be missing the Blues' final Premier League fixture of the season against Sunderland.
"The surgery means Hazard will not feature in Chelsea's final game against Sunderland -- the first Premier League game he will have missed this season," read a statement in FWA's official website.
Meanwhile, Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola showered praises on Hazard, following his excellent performances for the Blues this season.
"He's [Hazard] an amazing player. You like to see players like him playing. He's one of those players you'd pay for a ticket to go and watch, even if you don't support the team he's playing for," the 48-year-old Italian told ESPN.
"This year he's been very effective. He's learnt to use his qualities in the best way to be more effective for himself and his team. I can see him getting better and better because he's young and he plays for a team and a manager that will be pushing him to improve all the time."
The former Italy forward also feels that Chelsea are the deserving Premier League champions this season even though they haven't played very attractive football in the second half of the campaign.
"I don't think Chelsea winning the title has ever been in doubt," Zola added. "That tells you all about how dominant and good they've been. At the beginning of the season they produced some fantastic football as well. Probably some of the best football we've seen from Chelsea."
"Towards the end of the season they became more pragmatic. But it was an important stage of the season to play like that. The Premier League is a type of league that demands a lot. It's very difficult to play the same standard of football throughout it."
