Mason Mount achieved his life-long dream and scored upon his home debut as Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by Leicester City.
Frank Lampard showed the faith he was willing to invest in the 20-year-old and granted Mount his first Premier League start at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea flew out of the blocks and demonstrated a great desire and tenacity on such monumental day for the club. Lampard’s Chelsea home dugout debut.
Mount’s pressing and energy set the tone putting the Blues on the front foot. In just the sixth minute the England Youth International dispossessed Wilfred Ndidi and drilled his shot past Kasper Schmeichel.
‘A dream come true’
In an interview with Chelsea FC Mount expressed his euphoria on the day that he had dreamt since he joined the academy aged six years old.
Since joining the Blues, he worked his way up through the age groups and won multiple trophies along the way. At his time in the academy, he captained Chelsea Under-18s to the FA Youth Cup, won the English Youth League and the UEFA Youth League.
Determined to achieve his life-long goal, Mount developed his skillset with loan spells at Vitesse Arnhem and Derby County. He scored a combined 24 goals and assisted 16 in 83 appearances.
“It’s a dream come true and I can’t even describe the feeling, it’s going to be with me for a long time,” began Mount. “My family were all here today and obviously it’s a special moment just to make my debut at home but to score as well is a massive moment for me.
“It’s what you dream of - coming through the Academy and being at the club since the age of six, to start the game in front of all our home fans and score is amazing.”
Having grown up at the club he now plays for, Mount expressed how he is still coming to terms with fans having his name on their shirts.
“It feels a bit surreal, having been at the club for such a long time and now finally breaking into the first team,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and now there are fans with my name on the back of their shirts!”
Working under Lampard
Mount played under Lampard at Derby last season as the pair fell short of promotion from the Championship to Aston Villa at Wembley.
Impressed with what he saw, Lampard ensured the young midfielder would play first-team football at the Bridge this season. Mount was handed a new five-year contract.
Chelsea’s number 19 has insisted he will continue to work hard day-in-day-out as he works under his boyhood hero.
He said: “It’s crazy to process but my focus is to keep working hard day-in, day-out in training so I can play as many games as I can and prove to the manager that I’m ready. I’m loving every minute of it.
“Frank wants us to press high and put teams under pressure, so it was nice to see that pay off with the goal.
“Scoring goals and creating chances for the team is something I want to contribute and on a personal note, it’s fantastic to get off the mark for Chelsea in the Premier League.”
'Plenty of things to work on'
The Blues began the game on the front foot but after scoring the first, they failed to capitalise to further their lead. Leicester equalised late in the second half as the game ended in a draw.
Mount understands his side should have walked away with three points rather than one.
“It’s a shame that we couldn’t get the win,” admitted Mount. “I thought we were really good for the first 20 minutes or so and created a lot of chances, but in the second half, we weren’t quite at the same level. We got the goal but then dropped off a bit and that gave Leicester confidence to get back into the game.
“As a team, we have to look at our performance overall and there are plenty of things for us to still work on. We’ve been starting games really well but now we have to work on maintaining that throughout 90 minutes.
“We have a whole week to prepare for the next game and we’ll be working hard.”