Chelsea star Mason Mount fires Liverpool and West Ham top four warning after Porto win

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Mason Mount helped Chelsea put one foot into the Champions League semi-finals and then warned the Blues’ Premier League rivals: “We’re getting better and better.”

Having been battered 5-2 by West Brom at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, in which they had to play an hour with 10 men after Thiago Silva’s dismissal, the Blues got back to winning ways on Wednesday night.

Mount scored a brilliant goal after a top-class turn on the edge of the area upon receiving a pass from Jorginho while Ben Chilwell scored a late second against Porto in Seville.

And that gives Chelsea a huge advantage for next week’s second leg, also in the Spanish city, as they seek to secure a spot in the final four of the European competition for the first time since 2013-14.

Speaking afterwards, goalscorer Mount told BT Sport: “We knew it was going to be a tough game. Coming into the game we knew how hard it would be to play against them, you don’t get many chances.

“But we kept going, we obviously got the goal first half then late on in the second to secure a good win.

“It’s only halfway through the tie, we’ve still got the second leg to go.”

On his first Champions League goal, the ever-impressive England international added: “It’s about time it came! I’ve been waiting patiently but it was a good time, good pass by Jorgy and I just had a bit of space so I hit it after my first touch and it went in.

“I was happy with that, and obviously it took us in at half-time 1-0 up, in a good position. Very happy to score one tonight but most importantly get the win going into the second leg.

“The job’s not done. As I said, they’re going to come and they’re going to fight in the next level. We’re going to have to give it our all again, and we’ll be ready.”

It was the perfect response for the Londoners after their bruising defeat at the hands of the relegation-threatened Baggies at the weekend.

There was drama in the Chelsea camp after that result with Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga involved in a training ground bust-up on Sunday, though one that was swiftly resolved.

And after immediately returning to winning ways, following West Brom ending Tuchel’s 14-match unbeaten run as Chelsea manager, Mount says he and his team-mates are only improving under the German coach.

That serves as a pointed message to the likes of West Ham, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton as the top-four race intensifies into the final few weeks of the season.

The Hammers occupy fourth spot on 52 points with fifth-placed Chelsea on 51 while Tottenham and Liverpool are on 49 and Everton rae two further back on 47, but with a game in hand.

Asked if Chelsea had to react to the West Brom loss, Mount continued: “Definitely. That was something after the game, we put it behind us and said we’d need to improve.

“We’re getting better and better. That game was something we looked at briefly the next day, and then moved on.

“We knew how big this game was going to be and it was going to be tough, so we came into the game with full focus, 100 per cent commitment we were going to win and give it everything and I think we did that tonight.”

Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole meanwhile said of Mount on BT Sport post-match: “He’s a manager’s dream.

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“Not only does he have this natural ability and he effects the game in the final third, the imagination to take that on his back foot on the blindside of the defender then the ability to finish.

“Not only has he got all of that, he’s a manager’s dream because he does the tactics to a tee off the ball. In that difficult spell just before they changed the manager, when nobody was playing well, he stood up, so he’s a leader as well.”

Cole’s BT Sport colleague Rio Ferdinand added: “What I like about him is his movement off the ball to get on the ball.

“I think once the other players start realising he actually makes movements to get beyond the defenders on the other team and start playing that ball, a little bit longer than a 10-yard to feet, he’ll get more opportunities at goal.

“He made runs today that nobody had seen and he was in if they played the ball forward.”

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