Agencies
LONDON// Chelsea returned to the top of the English Premier League with a 3-0 win at home to Stoke City yesterday in a timely boost ahead of their do-or-die Uefa Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
Jose Mourinho’s side bounced back from their 3-1 midweek quarter-final, first-leg loss in Paris to move a point ahead of Liverpool, who will regain top spot if they avoid defeat away to West Ham United today.
“I think the players played well,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “Normally after a defeat you don’t start confidently but this team today went upwards all the time. After the second goal the game was over.”
Egypt winger Mohammed Salah marked his first Premier League start by giving Chelsea, who host PSG in the second leg of their quarter-final on Tuesday, a 32nd-minute lead at Stamford Bridge when he turned in Nemanja Matic's cut-back.
Salah then won a penalty after Andy Wilkinson’s poor challenge and although Frank Lampard’s 61st minute spot kick was saved by Asmir Begovic, the veteran England midfielder followed up to make it 2-0.
Willian added a third goal with a curling shot in the 72nd minute.
Lampard, who started the match – a rare occurrence these days in the league – said Salah, Andre Schurrle and Willian made the difference for Chelsea.
“We maybe took a bit of time, it took us the first 10, 15 minutes to get into the game,” he said. “Once we started to, I thought Salah was brilliant on the right. He scored the first goal and I thought he was sharp throughout the game.
“Schurrle, the players that came in. I think people expect to see it from Oscar and [Eden] Hazard in our line-up all the time and I think bringing in two lads that were fresh like that, they were very positive for us in the first half and I think they made the performance for us.
“Willian was absolutely brilliant. He was so sharp on the ball, and the goal [he scored] was the epitome of what he does better than anyone I think I’ve played with.”
Mourinho said he was keeping one eye on the race for the title, but admitted the leaders had to rely on the results of others to keep their position at the summit.
“We have five matches to play in the Premier League and we have to try to win all five and after we try to win match after match, at the end of the season, see how many points we have and which one is our position,” the coach said.
“We don’t depend on ourselves, we never did. I was waiting for the moment where we could be top of the league and depend on ourselves and I was waiting for that moment to say ‘yes, now, we are candidates because we depend on ourselves’, but that never happened.
“In such an important league as ours, I don’t think it’s possible to have so many matches in hand.
“We depend too much on other results.”
sports@thenational.ae