You really couldn’t have written a better script for this game. A lionhearted 10th placed Chelsea draws against league leaders Manchester City 4-4 at Stamford Bridge. The match started strong for both sides. City eased into controlling a majority of the ball in the first half, before taking the lead with a Haaland penalty in the 25th minute. That could have been the start of what we’ve seen play out in the Blues most recent encounters against the Citizens where the visitors take the lead and control the game into a winning result from there.
However, this CFC side showed today why this project under Mauricio Pochettino is worth being patient for. First Sterling tied the game at 1-1 capitalizing from a Reece James cross and then the Blues surprisingly reclaimed the lead 2-1 with a well-timed header from Thiago Silva. Manchester City would bring the score back to a deadlock right before the break with Manuel Akanji’s header to cap off a blockbuster 1st half.
The 2nd half was an even greater spectacle than the first. Manchester City again retook the lead with a Haaland tap in early on in the 47th minute. Nicolas Jackson would then join the party as the Senegalese striker scored another goal in a huge game for the Blues to level the score once again. A Rodri strike from outside the box that took a deflection off Thiago Silva to enter the net almost spelled doom for Chelsea in the 86th minute. Guardiola’s men took the lead back and were finally looking like they’d put an end to the see-saw theatrics.
However, in a fitting moment of poetic justice, Cole Jermaine Palmer, a Manchester City academy product from the age of six years old, slots in a penalty against his ex-team in the 95th minute of stoppage time. Palmer revels in the moment with the iconic Michael Jordan “shrug” in his celebration of the final goal, ending one of the best Premier League games this season.