Fikayo Tomori reminded Frank Lampard of his abilities on the pitch. After dropping out of the first eleven in recent weeks, the 22-year-old put in a star performance away to Hull City and hopes that is enough to get him back in Chelsea’s ever-changing defense away to Leicester City on Saturday lunchtime.
Fikayo Tomori said “Everything has happened really fast this year. I’m proud of what I’ve done but it’s only the beginning. I want to achieve more, I want to win some trophies and play more games for England. At a club like Chelsea, there’s competition for places everywhere. The manager chose to leave me out for some games. I have to respect his decision and work hard on the training pitch so, when my chance comes, I can hopefully take it.”
Frank Lampard’s knowledge of Tomori’s capability was down to their relationship at Derby, where the defender became a stalwart in the Rams defence. It spoke volumes that Tomori was awarded the club’s player of the season ahead of fellow Chelsea-loanee Mason Mount in a season they reached the play-off final.
Frank Lampard said “He has come a long way since the first day he turned up at Derby. There were things he needed to improve, even personality-wise. He was quite quiet. You see a change in his personality and you see the player he has turned into.”
In a season lacking defensive solidity, Fikayo Tomori has been involved in some of the most resolute outings, away to Ajax and Spurs. Frank Lampard has failed to settle on a preferred pairing, fielding varying types of combinations. Zouma and Christensen, Zouma and Tomori, Rudiger and Zouma, Christensen and Rudiger and a back three have all been given a test-run. The physicality of Tomori also could work well with Rudiger as a partner and is the only combination Lampard has not started with.
Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount has hinted that his breakthrough at the club has been years in the making. The youngster has been ever-present for the Blues this season and has managed to establish himself as a first-team regular for the West Londoners.
Mason Mount said “I never saw myself as a prospect, it was always about playing as much football as I can. The two years out on loan were about trying to get experience and work as hard as I could to make sure when I came back I could give myself the best chance to get back to Chelsea and get in the team. That was my goal. The mentality side of football is massive. Coming through the academy and seeing so many brilliant footballers that I have played with since I was six being moved on and released and having to do something else with their lives was telling. They were technically unbelievable but just didn’t have that mentality side. When you are close or good friends, it’s tough. But my dad always said: ‘That’s football and these things happen. You just have to make sure it’s not you.My dad drilled that into me at a young age that you don’t want to get released. You can’t let your foot off the pedal because if you do boys are coming in from overseas that are very talented and they will want to take your place. “
After some promising early season form, Mason Mount won his first international cap for England last September. However, his performance against Newcastle recently was not good and prompted some England fans to call up Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish to national team duty over Mason Mount.
Chelsea striker Gonzalo Higuain believes that his spell with Chelsea was not that bad. The Argentine joined the Blues in January 2019 on a short-term loan deal. He arrived at a time during which the Blues were struggling to get goals up front. Alvaro Morata had been struggling for form whilst Olivier Giroud was always relied upon as a back-up option and never really viewed as someone to lead the line for the club on a regular basis.
Gonzalo Higuain said “I could have done better. But I think what I did is not bad, and then we managed to win the Europa League and reached the Champions League, so they were good results. People expected more from me, but I think the goals were fine in that short time. If you are a good player then people expect everything from you. But sometimes people don’t take into account that you are coming from a different league, from the Italian one that is completely different, to the Premier League. People don’t consider the fact that I played there for only a few months.”
Overall, Higuain’s time at Stamford Bridge was viewed with mixed reception with most people viewing it as a failure. Had he managed to score more goals, the club may have looked to buy him on a permanent basis last summer. They eventually opted against that and rather promoted Tammy Abraham to be the first-choice striker for the club.
