Dean Smith confessed that Mason Mount played havoc with Norwich City last night during their game with Chelsea.
Speaking after the Blues beat the Canaries 3-1 at Carrow Road, Smith credited Mount for making a bit of a mockery of his side.
Mount running the show
The England international made sure the outside noise of Roman Abramovich’s sanction was at least slightly turned down for 90 minutes as he enjoyed an excellent evening in Norfolk.
He provided the corner for Trevoh Chalobah’s opener after just three minutes and was on the scoresheet not long after.
A driving run from Kai Havertz set up the 23-year-old to swerve past a Norwich defender and smash the ball past Tim Krul.
Krul must be absolutely sick of the sight of Chelsea’s number 19 by now.
That strike that sailed into the top corner marked the sixth time he’d been beaten by the Cobham academy product in three Premier League games.
Mount should’ve added another assist to his name as well, but the low cross he delivered in the second half just evaded the boot of Romelu Lukaku.
But this did not detract from a dominant and defiant display from the young forward.
Chelsea crush the Canaries
Apart from missing out on a clean sheet, Chelsea’s approach to the match, in general, was exemplary, considering everything that happened in the run-up.
Thomas Tuchel’s men made Norwich very much look like a group destined for the drop, spearheaded by the marvellous Mount.
“I’ve seen Chelsea destroy teams with their wing backs,” said Smith.
“They play five on your back line and cause teams lots of problems. They’ve done that today even though we didn’t flatten off quick enough in midfield.
“Mason Mount caused untold problems by picking up lots of space in the opposite pocket and we never filled it well enough, which gave us problems.”
Whilst this result leaves Norwich’s top-flight status in serious doubt, the same can be said about Chelsea’s future as a club.
Although we’d rather just speak about the victory, it’s incredibly difficult to ignore what’s happening away from the pitch.
Fans, staff and other members of the organisation are being unfairly affected by the actions of one individual.
We can’t predict what will happen in the next few months, let alone the next few weeks or days.
But all we can say is: please stick together Blues, this is not the end.
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