Mounting an offensive

It was a notable evening for Mason Mount right from kick-off, as the midfielder made his 50th Premier League appearance for Chelsea at the age of 21 years and 346 days. That made him the youngest Englishman to reach that landmark for the Blues for 18 years, since John Terry hit that figure in 2002.

It only got better for Mount from there too, as he provided the assist for Thiago Silva to score our first goal just nine minutes into his half-century appearance.

The fact that opener came from a corner was also significant, as it was the eighth time we have scored via that method in the Premier League this season, more than any other team. It was also the third time in 2020/21 we have scored specifically with a header from a Mount corner.

That combination proved to be the usually solid West Ham’s Kryptonite, as before last night they were the only Premier League side not to have conceded from a set-piece during the current campaign.

It wasn’t just from dead-ball situations Mount posed a threat to the Hammers defence either. His four key passes were twice as many as any other player on the pitch and he provided the joint-highest number of crosses into the box, eight, along with Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell, but he found a team-mate with four of those crosses compared to just two for the West Ham duo.

Sterling work from Silva

Thiago Silva got on the end of Mount’s early corner to score a fine header and set us on our way to victory and it was another dominant performance overall from the Brazilian.

That was one of seven aerial balls the defender won against the Hammers, the highest of any Chelsea player. In addition, he made seven clearances, more than any other player, and his three interceptions was the joint highest, with Jorginho.

It may be surprising, then, that he made just one tackle, compared to Cesar Azpilicueta’s high of five. However, with all those interceptions, headers and clearances, it seems he just reads the game so well he wins the ball before it gets to the opposition strikers!

Thiago Silva’s influence in possession was also in evidence against West Ham, as his 95 touches were the most by anyone, his 92.2 per cent passing accuracy was the best of Chelsea’s starting XI and the 77 passes he made was the highest number on the pitch by some margin, ahead of second-placed Kurt Zouma’s 63.

Other statistical highlights

Our other two goals were both scored by Tammy Abraham in the second half, with just 101 seconds separating the two strikes. Even more impressively, he found the net twice from just two shots, as he scored twice in the same game for the first time since his hat-trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 2019.

Fellow forward Timo Werner's four shots was the highest number of any player against West Ham last night and although none of them found the net, two were on target and saved by Lukasz Fabianski, while one hit the crossbar.

The only one which was off target turned into an important assist, as it was guided in by Abraham to score our second goal of the night, and relieve the pressure the Hammers had been exerting in the second half.