Chelsea & City involved in an all-time classic

An absolute Premier League classic on Sunday afternoon saw former City winger Cole Palmer level for Chelsea late on as they shared a 4-4 draw with Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. 

LINEUPS

CHE XI: Sanchez; James*, Disasi, Silva, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Gallagher, Sterling; Jackson

CHE SUBS: Petrovic, Badiashile, Gusto, Maatsen, Ugochukwu, Matos, Mudryk, Madueke, Broja

MCI XI: Ederson; Walker*, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol; Rodri, Silva; Foden, Alvarez, Doku; Haaland

MCI SUBS: Carson, Ortega, Lewis, Phillips, Kovacic, Nunes, Bobb, Grealish

Action: An energetic and high intensity start from the hosts led to few chances for either side in the opening exchanges, with Conor Gallagher catching a volley sweetly mid-way through the first-half, stinging the palms of Ederson.

Within moments of that opportunity, though, Manchester City had been awarded a controversial penalty as Marc Cucurella and Erling Braut Haaland got into a seemingly mutually aggressive tussle that resulted in Haaland being brought down and winning the spot kick. Haaland stepped up and slid the ball home to give the champions a lead.

A few minutes later, Ederson pulled off an excellent save from Reece James’ long distance free-kick which had seemed bound for the top corner. From the resulting corner kick, taken by Conor Gallagher, Thiago Silva headed across goal and into the far corner from the near post to level the scores.

Manchester City sprung back into attacking action within moments as Phil Foden bent an outstanding effort just wide, just after Foden had crossed to the back post and Haaland could only hit the side netting.

Chelsea then, though, took a surprise lead when Cole Palmer drove into space before playing a pass to Reece James. Josko Gvardiol completely misjudged the weight of that ball so James was able to sneak in and play across goal for Raheem Sterling to tap home against his former club.

Prior to half-time, Erling Haaland went close for his brace when he latched onto Bernardo Silva’s through ball and shot low and hard, well saved by Sanchez. However, a few minutes later, in first-half stoppage-time, City did equalise.

A short corner led to Bernardo Silva clipping a ball into the box for Manuel Akanji to power home a header into the top corner, unmarked around six yards out.

Less than two minutes into the second-half, City had regained the lead with some slick play from Phil Foden and then a cross from Julian Alvarez finding Haaland, who bundled the ball over the line.

Chelsea continued to show some real resilience and reacted well with the likes of Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling going close before Malo Gusto then blazed an excellent chance over the bar.

The Blues did get back level via Nicolas Jackson, though. A low Conor Gallagher strike was pushed out by Ederson and after taking a touch to set himself, Jackson managed to poke home and bring the hosts to parity at three apiece.

The rest of the match perhaps fell foul to the intensity of which the opening 70 minutes had been played at but there was another twist to come late on as City, again, took the lead.

Some neat play from Haaland and substitute Mateo Kovacic led to the Croat having a shot blocked from the edge of the box but the loose ball was latched onto by Rodri and, with the help of a massive deflection off Thiago Silva, the Spaniard, who has made a habit of scoring some vital goals for the 2023 treble winners, netted once more.

However, it was not the goal that would seal three points as Chelsea then pulled back to all square in second-half stoppage-time. Raheem Sterling led an attack before clipping a ball into Armando Broja. 

The Albanian striker checked back before being taken out by Portugal international Ruben Dias, albeit there is a fairly weak argument that Dias’ slight touch on the ball should have seen the decision overturned. Former Manchester City man, Cole Palmer, stepped up to score a dramatic equaliser.

WHAT A GAME THIS HAS BEEN!!

Rodri 🔥👏 pic.twitter.com/6WNKlYL8Ug

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 12, 2023

The big picture: Manchester City, defending the Premier League title, are sitting at the top-of-the-table but the gap is just one point ahead of both Arsenal and Liverpool. Chelsea’s point has seen them climb just about into the top-half as they continue their improved form with one loss in their last eight matches across all competitions. 

Man of the match: Raheem Sterling. In a game with an array of excellent performers, it was Raheem Sterling who was consistently pivotal to determining the outcome of the game. 

Expected goals: Chelsea (3.37) 4-4 (3.23) Manchester City

EVENTS

Kick-off

‘25 | GOAL: Haaland [pen] (0-1)

’29 | GOAL: Thiago Silva (1-1)

’37 | GOAL: Sterling (2-1)

’45 | GOAL: Akanji (2-2)

Half-time

’47 | GOAL: Haaland (2-3)

’67 | GOAL: Jackson (3-3)

’86 | GOAL: Rodri (3-4)

’90 | GOAL: Palmer [pen] (4-4)

Full-time