In pictures: Chelsea v Man City
Chelsea star Cole Palmer kept his cool amid absolute mayhem to rob his former club Manchester City of three points from the spot. An eight goal thriller is not the half of it as Chelsea got caught up in one of those crazy once-a-season roller-coaster rides… for the second match in a row.
If the drama of White Hart Lane on Monday will be remembered for years to come, this will not be a long way short – with City thinking they had twice claimed the spoils in the second half. Pep Guardiola’s concern though must be that his side used to be more resilient to this sort of never-say-die attitude but they were too lax and expectant that, as usual, Erling Haaland would prove to be the difference.
After all, it had been so predictable when the accident-prone Marc Cucurella pulled his shirt to concede a 24th-minute penalty which the City striker duly converted. Replays showed both men had grabbed each other’s sleeves initially but referee Anthony Taylor was adamant it was six-and-a-bit-to-one, half-a-dozen to the other and the VAR evidence showed that Cucurella had ultimately been in the wrong.
A few weeks ago, a controversial set-back like that might have been curtains for Chelsea’s bolted-together team. As it was, the stage was barely set. Just three minutes later Thiago Silva flicked in an equaliser from a corner as City stood still and watched him. Then, horror of horrors, Haaland actually fluffed a golden opportunity, shinning a sublime Phil Foden far-post cross into the side netting.
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The match was turned on its head before the break when Palmer’s ball to Reece James caught up in Josko Gvardiol’s heels, the subsequent free cross was perfect from the Chelsea captain though and Raheem Sterling made the run to the far post to convert. Still we had not reached the interval. In the final drama of the opening act, Chelsea left Manual Akanji alone in centre stage to level the scores with a free header.
Barely had the Stamford Bridge crowd regained their seats, than there was another goal. Of course it was Haaland scoring it, having created the opening by selling Moises Caicedo a beautiful turn on the half-way line. Julian Alvarez worked ball wide with Foden and Sanchez got a hand to the cross, but only to deflect it into Haaland, who cleverly managed to avoid it touching his arm as everything slid over the line on the greasy surface.
Again, Chelsea were having none of it. Before Monday, Nicolas Jackson might still have been on his heels when Conor Gallagher’s shot was parried by Robert Sanchez. A hat-trick against nine-man Spurs seems to have done wonders for his confidence and he nipped the ball off the toe of his team-mate Palmer and levelled again.
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Manchester City always seem to find a way and when Rodri’s shot cruelly diverted off Thiago Silva to wrong-foot the Chelsea goalkeeper and seeming steal the points once and for all. But no. A clumsy, scything tackle by Ruben Dias on substitute Armando Broja had Taylor pointing to the spot again and no amount of pressure was going to stop the impressive Palmer from slamming home the final equaliser against his own club.
Even when the final whistle blew, Mauricio Pochettino wanted more. He was furious that the game had ended with Chelsea on a potential counter and punched the air furiously and repeatedly as he roared in the face of the fourth official and berated Taylor from across the pitch.
It was another incredible game but in the cool light of day he needs to divert his energy into turning performances such as the ones against Arsenal and this one into more points. One thing is for sure though, Chelsea are on the right track and close to being as good as anybody in the Premier League even if the table says otherwise.
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