“Special talent” Mason Mount inspires Chelsea to fourth Wembley trip under Thomas Tuchel

Mason Mount continued to prove his doubters wrong as he inspired Chelsea to a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough in the FA Cup quarter-final.

Chelsea will have travelled to the Riverside on Saturday with the fear of a cup upset at the forefront of their mind. After all, this was a Middlesbrough side that had already knocked out Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, while Chelsea had to come from behind against both Plymouth Argyle and Luton Town.

But Thomas Tuchel’s side started on the front foot, looking to keep Middlesbrough quiet and it did work with two first-half goals giving the Championship side an uphill battle they could not over come. And Mount was at the forefront.

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Depending on who you ask, Mount is either a quality and important player for Chelsea or someone who only gets into the team because of his nationality and work rate. Those who say the latter aren’t worth listening to. The Englishman, now 23, has continued to get better with each passing season for Chelsea and has already hit his personal best for goal involvements.

With a brace of assists, Mount has now been directly involved in 20 goals for Chelsea this season, scoring eight and setting up a further 12. No Chelsea player has recorded more assists than Mount, who is five clear of closest teammate Reece James.

In Mount’s first season he was directly involved in just 13 goals while last year it jumped to 17, including the assist for Kai Havertz’s winner in the Champions League final. Overall, Mount has now hit 50 goal involvements for Chelsea in 148 appearances, scoring 25 and assisting 25. Perfectly balanced.

It’s not just Chelsea that benefit from Mount’s quality though, as former England striker Alan Shearer stated after the game.

“Mason Mount is very good, very intelligent,” he said on BBC’s coverage.

“He knows when, where and how to make those runs. He was a step ahead of everyone. That is what makes him a special talent. He’s got the picture in his head already.

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“We are very lucky that he’s in our [England] team and will be for many years.”

“You can see why he’s instrumental for Gareth Southgate as well in that midfield,” Jonathan Woodgate added.

Mount’s first assist was a delicious cross from the right flank that had just enough curl to get around the defender to reach the feet of Romelu Lukaku who had the simple task of tapping in. The second assist was more about Hakim Ziyech’s striker but Mount was quick to play the ball out to the Moroccan as Chelsea quickly broke through the Middlesbrough midfield.

Overall, Mount had 60 touches, completed 36 passes, created three chances and had two shots.

Mount and Chelsea will now look to Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final to see who they will be facing at Wembley, the fourth time they will have played at the home of football since Tuchel took charge.

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