Chelsea: Three lessons learnt in stalemate at Southampton

2. Mason Mount is a hero

If someone put a gun to my head and asked me if there was a single good thing about this game, the first thing that would come to my mind would be Mason Mount’s performance, without a shadow of doubt. The second thing would probably be “why am I being asked this question at gunpoint?” but that’s not relevant.

Anyway, Mount had a fantastic performance versus the Saints on Saturday. He has probably been the most consistent Chelsea player this season. He loves playing football, loves this club and he loves playing football for this club even more. What Tuchel said about Mateo Kovacic the other day, if you tell someone that it was said for Mount, it’ll sound pretty believable.

Mount knows he has to perform well every game, and especially when no one in the attacking third is able to create chances. He is built for this. Even under Frank Lampard, he was the most consistent player in the team. Even in games where literally nothing was working, he was trying his best to do stuff with the ball. Every club would love to have a player like Mount in its team.

Coming back to the actual performance from the English midfielder, he was phenomenal. He had one of his best games this season. Mount had a game-high seven shot-creating actions against Southampton. He also had a game-high two goal-creating actions—one was winning the penalty and the other was scoring it. The 22-year-old had two key passes, two passes into the attacking third and one pass into the penalty area. He had team-high 16 presses, out of which four were successful. He blocked a pass, as well. In possession, he completed four out of his four dribbles, which is a season-high for him. He portrayed that he can be both a vocal leader and a leader by example. It was incredible stuff from the Englishman, and he got the goal he deserved. He also deserved the win; the same can’t be said about some of the other players in the team though.