Mason Mount says Thomas Tuchel was playing mind games with him ahead of Chelsea’s game with Norwich City, and it worked, as he scored a hat-trick in a resounding 7-0 win.
It was top vs bottom of the Premier League table at Stamford Bridge and that’s exactly what it looked like as the Chelsea thrashed the Canaries in brutal fashion.
The England international opened the scoring after only eight minutes of the clash and completed it after 91, having scored a retaken penalty six minutes earlier.
- Tuchel tells Callum Hudson-Odoi to be more consistent after Norwich win
- Six Chelsea games Romelu Lukaku could miss as Tuchel gives injury update
Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James and Ben Chilwell were also on the score sheet, as was Norwich’s Max Aarons with an own goal, as the Blues clearly did not miss injured players Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner.
It was put to Mount by BT Sport that Tuchel had labelled him ‘mentally tired’ ahead of the match, and he feels it may have been a ploy to get the best out of him.
‘Maybe it’s a bit of mind games and I need to show him that I’m not (mentally fatigued),’ said Mount.
‘You know me I always want to play every game. But sometimes you’ve got to take a backwards step but I feel today and over the last couple of games I feel at it and ready to play and I’m absolutely buzzing for today.’
The 22-year-old midfielder hadn’t scored for club or country since May when he netted in the UEFA Champions League semi-final victory over Real Madrid.
But, he says he has not been worried about his dry spell, confident that he has been getting into the right positions and that goals would eventually come.
‘I’ve been waiting a long time,’ he said. I felt like you can put pressure on yourself, I always was getting in the positions to score I just wasn’t putting it in the back of the net.
‘I thought there’s going to be a game that it’s going to come off and obviously today was the day.’
