The Blues lost a league game for just the second time this season, despite leading at half-time courtesy of Mount’s stunning volley, a goal he was undoubtedly pleased with but which paled into insignificance in the context of a defeat.

‘I haven’t seen it back but it doesn’t really mean anything,’ he stated afterwards.

‘We play for three points and we want to still be at the top of the league pushing but we’ve come away with nothing today.’

The general consensus in the game’s aftermath was that Chelsea had played well for large periods but were hampered by costly mistakes, including the concession of a penalty after slow build-up play at the back.

Mount insisted that playing out from defence would remain part of the team’s style but admitted that knowing when and where to play short or long was key.

‘Our philosophy is to play so we always try to do that but sometimes the ball does have to go [be kicked long],’ he explained.

‘Over the past couple of games we’ve started to make mistakes which we haven’t really made in the past. We’re a team that doesn’t give away many chances but here we’ve conceded three and that’s something we need to look at.’

Despite winning at Watford three days earlier, the display was less impressive than the result and Mount believes both performance levels and the points tally must improve in the coming weeks if the Blues are to keep pace at the summit over the busy December schedule.

‘It’s been a tough week,’ he added. ‘The Watford game was a win but it could have gone either way and we scraped it really and now this one is a defeat.

‘As the gaffer said, maybe it’s a bump in the road but the players in the team need to step up and come strong in the next game. We must react from this performance because we need to get back to winning ways.’