'I know he wants it:' Frank Lampard excited by potential of Mason Mount
Chelsea's Mason Mount celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game during the Premier League match at Craven Cottage, London.
If Frank Lampard survives Roman Abramovich's twitchy trigger finger and is the right manager to make Chelsea great again it is reasonable to suspect Mason Mount will be a key player in their return to being serial trophy winners.
This sketchy first league win of the New Year is not necessarily even the start, but it was an important victory to ease the pressure on Lampard – if only until they go to in-form Leicester tomorrow night.
Midfielder Mount, as well as scoring the only goal, created seven chances in this game, the most by a Chelsea player since he achieved the same feat against Leeds last month.
And despite spending over €200m on attacking talent such as Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech in the summer, Lampard's main reason for optimism is Mount.
Lampard, 42, scored a club record 211 goals in winning three Premier League titles, the Champions League, four FA Cups, the Europa League, two League Cups and over 100 England caps, in a career Mount has time to emulate.
“Mason has just turned 22,” Lampard said. “By the time he is 23, 24 and coming towards the prime of his career I would like to think he will be a player of the highest level in all senses and that he has at least 10 to 15 goals a season in him.
“That is the potential I believe he has. And the great thing is he knows that too and I know he wants it.”
Explaining how he is working to help Mount, often dubbed Lampard's Son by disaffected Chelsea fans who need more convincing, he added: “I am always on at him about scoring more because that was something big in my game.
“But my serious goalscoring form did not come in until I was 25 or 26 at Chelsea. I am not trying to measure Mason against myself as I understand his game is developing. He offers so much, on and off the ball, for us.
“I understand it not as been as easy as he would have liked to get so many regular goals, but he will, he will. The nous for being involved in general play as well as getting two or three goalscoring opportunities, as he did in this game, will come and will develop.”
Chelsea went top of the table on December 5 when they beat Leeds, but even with this London derby win their dismal run still left them a whole seven points off the summit - before Manchester United and Liverpool played their game in hand last night.
Only Leicester have scored more than Chelsea's 11 strikes in the final stages of matches this season. Mount scored after 78 testing minutes against a dogged Fulham side reduced to ten men when Antonee Robinson was sent off just before half-time for a reckless foul.
Lampard will be happy with an early goal at Leicester and commented: “I know the stat and on face value says good character and we fight towards the end and that, but this game was a bit more than that because. The goal came when it was tense and not at the end of a high scoring match. It is not to easy when things not going well for the team and individuals for the team to keep pushing does show good character, but I like to score early goals too.”
Defeat for Fulham, their first in six matches, leaves them in the relegation zone ahead of Wednesday's visit of Manchester United.
Manager Scott Parker, Lampard's friend and former England team-mate, is up for the challenge after they survived unscathed in matches against Liverpool, Leicester, and Tottenham so far this season.
He said the team had earned the right to play with some swagger and commented: “We are not worried facing any team. You need to adopt a way about you and we have done that in last few weeks. We can give anyone a game however big they are.”
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