Mason Mount has hailed Chelsea's 'family' atmosphere as the stimulus to the Stamford Bridge club's Premier League title drive.
England forward Mount believes Chelsea's mix of homegrown and stellar overseas talents have gelled into a group of close-knit friends with the emotional ties to push for top honours.
Mount heads a cast list of six academy graduates who can confidently boast mainstay status at Stamford Bridge this season.
The 2021 Champions League winners have made no secret of their desire to press for Premier League glory, and Mount paid tribute to the upbeat mood in the west London camp.
'There are a lot of players coming through from the academy at the moment, and we've known each other since we were six, seven, eight years old,' said Mount.
'We're very close friends on and off the pitch. We've known each other a very long time and that helps when you have that close bond.
'Along with the other boys as well, we're definitely like a family; the team is very close together.
'And I think that's what you need if you want to go far in competitions, if you want to win big things and win the Premier League, and obviously that's our next goal.'
Thomas Tuchel took just 124 days to turn Chelsea from a talented squad packed full of unfulfilled promise into champions of Europe.
The German boss whipped the Blues in the second-half of last season, and now has Chelsea right in the early running for the Premier League crown.
And Mount admitted Tuchel has already had a big influence on his own playing style - both with and without the ball.
'He's been massive for me, to come in halfway through a season and do what he did last year, to win the Champions League and develop us all as players and as a group, he's been brilliant since the first day he's come in,' said Mount, speaking at an event to celebrate the new Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific map.
'For me personally he's helped me on and off the ball, he's helped me with confidence.
'And the way I like to play is very similar to his way he sets up and how he wants us to play.
'So I'm loving it, I'm loving every moment and hopefully we can keep winning things.'
ChelseaFC_Addict
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Thomas Tuchel is the best manager in the world Chelsea FC are lucky to have him The players respect him , the board gave him full control and stood away to watch what he can do. Chelsea FC board doesn't intervene in Tuchel's work which gives him power over players that's good. That's why Tuchel is always saying he's the happiest man at Chelsea FC 💙 he's right for once ,for the first time in his coaching life he's coaching a big team where he got financial backing and he's calling the shots ,he's free and a free man is a happy man. If you look at Tuchel he doesn't care who you are if he feels you don't perform he drops you to the bench and he did this to all players Mason Mount, James, Jorgihno, Kante ,Kovacic, Azpilicueta ,Christensen, Ziyech, Havertz, Pulisic and Lukaku are know better This is how much power Tuchel have at Chelsea FC and I don't see him wishing to leave Chelsea FC anytime soon The thing is Tuchel have the money to replace any player he wishes to do so and as such this players respect him ,when he shouts at them they don't fight him Tuchel is ruthless, aggressive ,he's passionate ,he feels the game he hates losing and most importantly he's tactically intelligent. He proved it against Pep Guardiola in Porto 2021 UCL final, Tuchel pulled a tactical masterclass there