‘Stepping up at the right time’: Chelsea fans salute magical Mount & two-goal hero Havertz as Tuchel’s men cement top-four spot

Chelsea fans heaped praise on young talents Mason Mount and Kai Havertz as they starred in a clinical 2-0 defeat of Fulham to cement the Blues’ position in fourth spot in the Premier League.

Midfield maestro Mount bolstered his rapidly growing reputation with a sublime touch to set up Havertz to put Chelsea ahead after just 10 minutes at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, controlling a long ball from Thiago Silva before feeding the German who slid home his third league goal of the season since making a £75 million move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.  

Havertz struck after a sensational assist from Mount. © Reuters

The finish was cute but the praise was all for Mount for the magical way the 22-year-old England man killed the ball dead before sending a perfectly-weighted through-ball to his teammate – a moment which sent social media into raptures at the youngster’s “scary” talent.

Havertz had the ball in the net again just over five minutes later, but the goal was ruled out for offside.  

Relegation-threatened Fulham – led by former Chelsea midfielder Scott Parker in the dugout – had chances of their own in the first half, with the hosts indebted to several acrobatic saves from Edouard Mendy in goal.

Hakim Ziyech – starting the game as one of a host of changes by Chelsea boss Tuchel after the midweek Champions League semi-final draw with Real Madrid – spurned a golden chance to double his team’s lead when the ball was cut back to him by Timo Werner, with the Moroccan sending the ball straight at Fulham ‘keeper Alphonse Areola.

Four minutes into the second half and the lead was two for Chelsea, and again it was Havertz who got on the scoresheet.

Left back Ben Chilwell drilled the ball across field towards Havertz, who brought the ball down and cut inside, feeding Werner while continuing his run intelligently into space.

Much maligned for his impotence in front of goal, Werner has at least continued to be industrious in his efforts to facilitate his teammates, and the German showed awareness to play in countryman Havertz as he slotted home calmly again.

Havertz celebrates with teammate Chilwell after scoring Chelsea's second against Fulham. © Reuters

The double for Havertz – which took him to three goals in his past three Premier League appearances – left Chelsea fans on social media proclaiming that the youngster’s struggles in adapting to life in England were firmly behind him.

“This is why you don’t write off young players like Havertz so early,” wrote one fan.

“He’s now finally adapting and you can [see] he’s absolute quality. People were seriously calling him a flop after having Covid, injuries, being played out of position and adapting to a new country. Unbelievable signing.”

Those sentiments were echoed elsewhere, as Havertz, 21, was praised for coming good at a crucial stage of the season for his team as they aim to secure a spot in the top four as well as chase an unlikely Champions League title, with their semi-final tie with Real delicately poised at 1-1 ahead of the return leg in London next week.

Mount made way for Tammy Abraham on 76 minutes after the midfielder was involved in a painful-looking collision, and fans will hope he will not be hindered from featuring against Zinedine Zidane’s men on Wednesday in the English capital.   

After watching his team pick up an 11th clean sheet in 15 Premier League games under his management, Tuchel was full of praise for his men. 

“We knew that Fulham gives everybody a hard time, they make you work hard and suffer,” the Chelsea boss said afterwards.

“You can’t get confused because of where they are in the table, so I have the highest respect for what we did today.

“We were spot on [with our focus]. It’s what we demanded of ourselves between two big games… There was absolutely no lack of concentration.”

Speaking on Havertz, Tuchel was full of praise for his fellow German, saying: “This is what we want, if somebody gets your chance you have to make your point. A very good performance from our two strikers [Werner and Havertz].”

Tuchel salutes Billy Gilmour after Chelsea's win. © Reuters

While Fulham look increasingly doomed to drop out of the Premier League – finding themselves nine points from safety with four games to play – Chelsea will take pleasure from a routine win ahead of the sterner test from Spanish giants Real and a Premier League meeting at champions-elect Manchester City next weekend.

Heading into that clash, City could already be crowned Premier League champions, should nearest rivals Manchester United lose to Liverpool on Sunday.

Chelsea meanwhile are sitting pretty in the battle for fourth spot, six points ahead of fifth-placed West Ham, but having played one game more. Looking upwards, Tuchel's men are just two points behind Leicester City in third.