EVER since Frank Lampard’s Chelsea playing days, the club have struggled to find a suitable replacement for the now Blues boss.
Lampard was one of a kind and is a club legend at Stamford Bridge after a glittering playing career.
Mason Mount starred as Chelsea reached the Champions League with a win over WolvesCredit: Reuters
Frank Lampard smiles as he watches – with Mount starting to fill the void left by the Chelsea legendCredit: Andy Hooper
But there is no doubt that he left a hole at Chelsea when he left, a hole that you never believed would be filled.
He was a leader on the pitch, and one of the best all around midfielders to ever grace the sport.
He is arguably the best Premier League midfielder of all time and one of the best English midfielders – Lampard could do it all.
A player like Lampard who offers so much is near-impossible to emulate.
Chelsea needed a creative spark this afternoon, they needed a key to unlock a stubborn Wolves setup, they needed a Frank Lampard.
I have no doubt that Lampard would don his boots once again even now and do a great job on the pitch, but that’s impossible.
Mount scored a stunning free-kick and added an assist in the winCredit: AP:Associated Press
So up stepped Chelsea’s new age midfielder Mason Mount to provide the sort of impact that his manager used to produce on a weekly basis.
Now don’t get me wrong, Mount has a LONG way to go before he even gets near the levels that Lampard got to.
But this afternoon’s performance was a perfect emulation of a fine Frank Lampard performance, and he stepped up right when Chelsea needed him to.
He scored a perfect free kick to break the deadlock late in the first half when the game was totally in the balance.
Then he set up Olivier Giroud to score Chelsea’s second right on half time to send them in on the break in a much more comfortable position.
Chelsea were struggling until then, and the pressure and importance of qualifying for Champions League football was weighing heavy on their shoulders.
Giroud was misfiring, Christian Pulisic was having a poor game, and Chelsea fans started to wonder where that spark would come from.
Mount’s goal and assist was typically peak Lampard, and he rose to the challenge exactly when his team needed him when others were struggling.
I’ve lost count of the amount of times that Lampard did that himself in a Chelsea shirt. And Mount has every chance of having the same effect on games that Lampard used to.
That’s now seven goals and five assists for Mount on his debut season in the Premier League, not bad at all for a player who was often written off already by his own fans.
He went on to put in an even better performance in the second half and was as lively as ever.
His two goal contributions were enough to send Chelsea into next seasons Champions League competition.
What a performance, what a season, what a player.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
