His first time to make it to the starting lineup since joining Chelsea in January, Salah, who already bagged his first goal for the club two weeks ago against Arsenal, started alongside Willian and Schurrle. Salah played at the expense of rested stars Eden Hazard and Oscar, as head coach Jose Mourinho opted to rest them for the anticipated clash against PSG when the blues will try to overturn their 3-1 defeat in Paris. Salah seemed nervous and overwhelmed at the beginning of the match as he misplaced a few passes and could not get the better of Stoke's solid full-back Pieters until he popped up with the turning point of the game in the 32nd minute. The extremely impressive Matic provided Salah with the second assist in three games as he muscled his way through stoke's defense before cutting the ball back at the edge of the 18 yards for Salah, who wrong footed Begovic and finished expertly with a first-time finish much to the delight of the home fans and his teammates who once again seemed overjoyed with Salah's goal. The goals proved to be a turning point both for Salah and for Chelsea as they took full control of the game from that minute, with Salah and Willian in particular looking very impressive and confident. Salah's contribution continued as his brilliant run inside the box won his side a penalty as Andy Wilkinson fouled the dazzling Egyptian to give Frank Lampard the chance to double Chelsea's lead in the game. Lampard saw his effort blocked brilliantly by Begovic, but the England international scored from the rebound and went straight to Salah to thank him for winning the penalty. Salah nearly scored a wonder goal a few minutes later as he took the ball at the middle of the park and sprinted through the defense of Stoke in astonishing fashion, but Pieters felled him with no decision given. The first assist for the flying Egyptian came later when he played in Willian at the edge of the 18 yards only to see the Brazilian scoring a wonderful goal to kill off the game and give Salah his first assist on his first start. The game ended that way and Mourinho reserved special praise for Salah after the game. “Chelsea were absolutely right to sell a player at the peak of his game (Juan Mata) and buy a brilliant young talent and one for the future in the form of Salah,” Mourinho said. “You can feel straight away the connection between him and the fans as they seem to really like the way he plays his game,” Mourinho later said about his Egyptian gem. Vice-captain and club legend, Frank Lampard, commended Salah after the game. “People always expect to see Hazard and Oscar playing, but today they saw Salah and Willian, who were both exceptional during the 90 minutes.” Salah seemed over the moon after the game and thanked Mourinho for always having been a motivation to him, just telling him to go out on the field and enjoy himself without any kind of pressure. More proud than ever of their Egyptian superstar, Egyptian fans are holding their breaths that he can keep his winning streak.
