A thunderous Etihad display made Jérémy Doku the first player since Eden Hazard’s famous 2019 outing to combine a goal with double‑digit duels won, seven or more successful dribbles, three or more chances created and three shots on target in a single Premier League game.
The headline performance
Doku’s outing read like a blueprint for modern wing play: relentless one‑on‑one success, repeated forays past defenders and a clinical eye in the box that produced high‑value attempts on target.
The numbers aren’t just flashy; they show a player who blended chaos-creating dribbles with end product — the kind of game that flips momentum and forces opponents to rethink their defensive map.
Hazard’s 2019 echo
Hazard’s West Ham performance has long been held up as a benchmark for the mercurial No.10 — a display of individual genius where trickery, close control and decisive final actions combined to win a match almost single‑handedly. That Doku’s stat line now mirrors Hazard’s underlines both the rarity of those combined metrics and how they spotlight match‑deciding attackers across eras.
What the side‑by‑side reveals
Impact profile: Both players showed an identical mix of creation and finishing, a dual threat that forces tactical shifts from opponents.
Play style: Hazard’s artistry often leaned on theatrical single moments of magic; Doku’s performance married that flair to relentless work‑rate in duels and a sharper statistical footprint.
Rarity: The precise combination of high duels, dribbles, chances created and shots on target in one match is uncommon, which is why the comparison to Hazard resonates beyond nostalgia — it marks genuine elite contribution on all attacking fronts.
Final take
Stat lines can’t capture the full mood of a match, but when they align this neatly across years, they tell a compact story: Doku produced a Hazard‑level night in terms of all-around attacking influence. For fans and tacticians alike, it’s a reminder that certain performances transcend single moments — they register across the game’s most telling metrics and join a short list of genuinely game‑shaping displays.
