Chelsea sweating new Mason Mount injury from Club World Cup final

When Chelsea got on the plane to Abu Dhabi this time last weekend, Mason Mount was nursing a knock that he had picked up when taking a shot in extra-time against Plymouth Argyle in our FA Cup fourth win.

The injury was said to be minor, which is why he traveled, and after taking it easy in training, he was deemed fit enough for the matchday squad for the semifinal, in which he would eventually make a 20-minute substitute appearance. Then, last night, he was back in the starting lineup, but his day would come to an early end when he was forced to limp off with an injury just 30 minutes in.

The natural reaction in such casesis to blame the previous injury and question the decision to play him, but as Tuchel revealed afterwards, Mount’s new injury has nothing to do with his old one, and is just one of those football things that happen.

“He was injured [...] in one of the first actions, he had a run at the back post with Azpilicueta. They fell and his opponent fell on his ankle and he hurt his ligaments badly. So we have to see.

“It’s an injury. He came to me and said he didn’t feel good, stiff and painful. He didn’t know if he could continue so we took the decision.”

-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London

“Ligaments badly” is not a combination of words you ever want to hear. As described, the injury sounds quite similar to the ankle injury suffered by Romelu Lukaku against Malmö FF earlier this season, with another player falling on it, which ended up keeping him out for a month.

Mount was seen limping around during the post-match celebrations before leaving the stadium on crutches. Our reigning Player of the Year has had to deal with a couple minor injuries already this season, which haven’t exactly had a positive impact on his performances or consistency, but he’s still a key player for us and sixth among all non-goalkeepers in minutes.

Fingers crossed it’s not too bad!

Photo by Tullio Puglia - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images