LONDON -- Maurizio Sarri compared Eden Hazard's importance to Chelsea to that of Lionel Messi at Barcelona or Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus after the Belgian passed a century of goals for the club in a 2-1 win over Watford.

Hazard scored Chelsea goal No. 100 when he raced onto Mateo Kovacic's pass and rounded Ben Foster in the first half, then he won and converted a penalty in the second half after Roberto Pereryra's volley had brought Watford level.

Another big individual night brings Hazard's contribution for the season to 10 goals and nine assists in 18 Premier League appearances for Chelsea, and Sarri did not hold back in praise for his match-winner.

"He is able to play in every position. He is playing like a false No. 9. He is very able to play in that position, he scored two goals and I think he made two or three very good assists. He is very able to come to play with teammates, he is able to make space for teammates, he is very able in that position, but I think that he can play very well in every position."

Sarri sprang a surprise by naming an unchanged Chelsea starting XI to the team that lost to Leicester City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and added that he was particularly pleased with his players' reaction to Pereyra's equaliser.

"I think against Leicester the mentality was good and I think against Leicester we played the best performance of the season in the first half," he insisted.

"[What was] wrong was the reaction, the reaction to the negative situation, but it can happen. [Here] it was very well in approach, the determination and application was very good for 90 minutes in continuity.

"So maybe we played in quality better against Leicester but we played better in application [here], so the result is only the consequence."

Chelsea's win tightens their grip on fourth place in the Premier League after Arsenal dropped two points away to Brighton, but the evening was marred by a minority of the travelling Blues support once again using anti-Semitic language in chants.

"I didn't hear anything," Sarri said, then added: "First of all, I want to speak with my club. Second I don't want to generalise. For the 99 percent [there is no issue]. Then in every community there are some stupid [people].

"Then all together we have to fight against stupid people, but not against the Chelsea fans."