Chelsea manager Frank Lampard singled out one player after the 2-1 loss to Liverpool on Sunday. It wasn’t N’Golo Kante nor the likes of Mason Mount or Tammy Abraham. The Blues boss focused his praise on Fikayo Tomori who he believed had an outstanding game in the home defeat:
“I have to single out Tomori. For a young player like him to go up against Mo Salah, who is lethal, and deal with him for pace and in the mind, I thought was class. Everything he did was. Those are the signs I’m looking for individually.”
Tomori looked every bit a Premier League defender during the 90 minutes at the weekend. He was commanding, strong and took responsibility against, arguably, the best team in England at the moment.
Looking at the defensive stats from the game, you can see how quickly the centre-back is getting to grips with playing at the highest level. He won 60% of his defensive duels, made four clearances, two interceptions and recovered the ball eight times.
Neither of the goals conceded were down to Tomori either. Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta gave away the two free kicks while the poor marking for Firmino’s goal was down to Marcos Alonso.
Considering he was fifth choice centre-back only a few months back, it has been a rapid rise for the 21-year-old. During pre-season, it looked likely that Andreas Christensen and David Luiz would be first choice, with Antonio Rudiger still unavailable.
Kurt Zouma even looked to be ahead of him, but with Luiz leaving for Arsenal and Rudiger picking up another injury, Tomori quickly came into contention for a starting spot.
Due to Christensen picking up a knock, he got his opportunity against Sheffield United and he has never looked back. There are, of course, reasons to be cautious.
At 21 years of age, Tomori is bound to make mistakes, and there will be games where he won’t look as imperious as he did against Liverpool. One area he must improve is in the air.
The centre-half is 6ft 1 but he has won just 50% of his aerial duels in the four matches he has played this season. If you contrast that Zouma (80%), he has a way to go to become that towering presence in the centre of defence.
With that being said, though, it has been an excellent start for Tomori and without Lampard at the helm (and the transfer ban), it is clear that he would have been sent out on loan again, or even sold.
Back in July, Burnley were reportedly lining up a £15m offer for the defender, and you would have bet a number of previous managers would have cashed in. The current head coach has placed his faith in him and he is currently being rewarded with some excellent performances.
