Liverpool
captain Jordan Henderson believes Chelsea's Mason Mount has the mentality
and technical ability to succeed at the highest level.
The Reds midfielder could come up against his compatriot when Chelsea host
the Premier League leaders at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
Mount was forced off early in Tuesday's Champions League defeat to Valencia
following a reckless challenge by former Arsenal midfielder Francis
Coquelin.
But despite initial fears over potential ligament damage, the 20-year-old
midfielder has made a swift recovery, and Henderson has been impressed with
his immediate impact this season under Frank Lampard.
"Frank's done very good," Henderson told Soccer Saturday. "I think the way
they're playing is very good. They've got young kids but they're top
players, and certainly will be in the future.
"They've got huge potential with the likes of Mason already training for
England, I can see he's got the right mentality to play football.
"Technically he's very good. Everyone can see that he's hungry to be a very
good player and is a very exciting prospect. He's started the season very
well along with Tammy [Abraham].
"They haven't had a couple of results go their way, with the Sheffield
United game and Valencia, but in terms of the way they're playing I can
definitely see an improvement."
Jurgen Klopp's side collected 97 points last season and suffered just one
league defeat, but still fell short in an engrossing title race with
Manchester City.
But the Reds have already established a five-point gap on City this term,
the largest after five games in a Premier League season.
Henderson was born in the same year that Liverpool were last champions of
England - in 1990 - and that remains a dream for the club captain.
He added: "Of course, we want to win the league and win as many trophies as
we can. With the team and the manager that we've got, there's no reason why
we can't do that.
"But there's no point in focusing on that. The focus remains the next game -
it's been the case for the last few years - and it's stood us in good stead
so far."
Klopp has admitted his players have to improve the defensive side of their
game, but says a lack of clean sheets is not down to a more attacking
approach.
In five matches this season they have scored 15 goals and conceded five in
the Premier League, with just one clean sheet - at Burnley last month - in
eight matches in all competitions this term.
At the same stage last season, the Reds had scored 11 and conceded just two,
having opened the league campaign with three successive clean sheets, and
Henderson acknowledges there remains plenty of room for improvement.
"Keeping the focus has been easy because of the people we have around us and
the manager," he said.
"The manager is so good at making sure nothing is left untouched in
training. If there's anything he doesn't like, he picks up on it
straightaway.
"The lads are always wanting to improve, are training hard to be successful
and to get to the next level, and we always know there's room for
improvement. Having the manager on us constantly makes it easy for us to
stay concentrated."
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