London: A hat-trick from Mason Mount propelled Chelsea to a 7-0 win over bottom side Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday, extending their lead at the top of the table and demonstrating they still had firepower despite injuries to their strikers.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel had called on his attacking players to step up after injuries to striker Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner during Wednesday's Champions League win over Malmo.
The players obeyed and Mount opened Chelsea's account when he sent the ball low into the net after a layoff from Jorginho in a move started down the left by the ever-busy Callum Hudson-Odoi.
The 20-year-old Hudson-Odoi earned his own reward 11 minutes later when he latched on to a pinpoint throughball from Mateo Kovacic and held his nerve to fire home past the outstretched leg of Norwich keeper Tim Krul.
A third Chelsea Academy product got on the scoresheet three minutes before halftime when Mount slid the ball into the path of Reece James and the wing-back produced a delicious chip over the advancing Krul.
Tuchel has said he believes Chelsea's success is built upon a happy combination of home grown and foreign players and it took 12 minutes of the second half for Chelsea's, now purring, machine to score again. England left back Ben Chilwell sent a Kovacic pass across the face of the goal and into the back of the net past a despairing Krul.
Norwich, who have failed to win a game this season and have scored just two goals, were in disarray and then suffered the indignity of an own goal from Max Aarons in the 62nd and a sending off for Ben Gibson after a second yellow card two minutes later.
By now the European champions were peppering the Norwich goal with attempts and, but for some last ditch defending and some fine Krul saves, substitutes Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Hakim Ziyech and Ross Barkley might all have scored.
Krul saved a penalty from Mount late in the game but VAR showed he had moved off his line and when the kick was retaken in the 85th minute the England midfielder made no mistake.
Mount capped off his fine performance with a tap-in from a Loftus-Cheek pass in the 91st minute to register his first hat-trick and send fans home happy.
Chelsea have 22 points, ahead of Liverpool, who play Manchester United on Sunday and have 18 points.
King reigns supreme as Ranieri's Watford beat Everton 5-2
Watford striker Joshua King grabbed a hat-trick on his return to former club Everton in a stunning 5-2 Premier League victory as the visitors claimed their first win under new manager Claudio Ranieri on Saturday.
Watford's maiden win at Goodison Park, which moved them up to 14th on 10 points, was in stark contrast to Ranieri's first game in charge when they were spanked 5-0 at home to Liverpool last week. Everton dropped to eighth on 14 points.
King, who spent the second half of last season at Everton and left the club when his contract was not renewed, was in fine form and the Norwegian had no qualms about celebrating his goals and going into the book for taking his shirt off.
Everton were quick out off the blocks, scoring inside three minutes when Demarai Gray sprinted down the left, danced past a challenge and crossed the ball into the six-yard box where Tom Davies stuck his foot out for his first goal of the season.
The lead lasted only 10 minutes, however, when King stole in at the back post on a set-piece to fire the ball into the roof of the net after Everton failed to clear the initial delivery, with the linesman's offside call being overruled by VAR.
Everton struggled to make inroads after the early goal and it took the introduction of Richarlison in the second half for them to go ahead as the Brazilian got on the end of Michael Keane's whipped cross to head home against his former club.
But Watford silenced the Goodison Park crowd with two goals in two minutes when Juraj Kucka first levelled from another set-piece with a header before King scored his second from a counter-attack after Everton committed too many players forward.
King completed his hat-trick when Everton's defence failed to clear a cross into the box, turning Keane before firing past Pickford, before Emmanuel Dennis got a fifth in stoppage time.
Cornet hits brace as Burnely hold Saints 2-2
Maxwel Cornet scored twice as winless Burnley earned a 2-2 draw at Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.
Burnley remain in the drop zone, in 18th place on four points, while Southampton, with one win, are hovering above relegation trouble in 16th on eight points.
Burnley took the lead in the 13th minute when Cornet lost his marker to glance a Matt Lowton corner into the far bottom corner.
Southampton piled on the pressure in response and Theo Walcott pulled a shot wide from a promising position before Nathan Redmond missed an open goal from point-blank range after good work from their Albania forward Armando Broja.
Tino Livramento then hit the post as Southampton battered at Burnley's goal and it was the impressive 18-year-old who finally brought the Saints level, four minutes before the break, with a header from Redmond's corner.
Broja put Southampton ahead in the 50th minute after Burnley defender James Tarkowski gave the ball away to Ibrahima Diallo.
But Ivorian Cornet, a close-season signing from Olympique Lyonnais, earned Sean Dyche's Burnley side a point, beating goalkeeper Alex McCarthy with a superb first-time strike from the edge of the box.
It was the fifth time this season that Burnley had taken the lead but failed to win and Dyche was disappointed with the way his side gave up the two goals.