Chelsea come out on top in thriller

An astonishingly topsy turvy clash at Stamford Bridge saw Chelsea score twice deep into second-half stoppage-time to eventually defeat Manchester United by four goals to three.

LINEUPS 

CHE XI: Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Badiashile, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Gallagher*, Mudryk; Jackson

CHE SUBS: Bettinelli, Silva, Chalobah, Gilchrist, Tauriainen, Casadei, Chukwuemeka, Madueke, Sterling

MUN XI: Onana; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka; Casemiro, Mainoo; Antony, Fernandes*, Garnacho; Hojlund

MUN SUBS: Heaton, Evans, Kambwala, Amrabat, McTominay, Eriksen, Mount, Rashford, Amad Diallo

Action: It was an electric and end to end game at Stamford Bridge with a goal coming early on in the match, too, via Chelsea captain on the evening, Conor Gallagher, who stroked home an effort from the edge of the box inside just four minutes.

Chelsea continued to pile the pressure on with Mauricio Pochettino’s side finding lots of openings down both sides of the Manchester United box and defensive flanks.

They did eventually double their lead when Antony tripped Nicolas Jackson in the box, who had latched onto Mykhaylo Mudryk’s through ball. Cole Palmer stepped up and cooly slotted it away for the Blues.

Manchester United did begin to show some signs of life as the half wore on and, quite astonishingly, actually brought themselves back level before the break.

Alejandro Garnacho pounced on an error made by Moises Caicedo and he burst through on goal before eventually smartly shifting the ball onto his left foot and wrong footing Djordje Petrovic in the Chelsea goal.

United then brought themselves back level a few minutes later when a wonderful, deep cross from Diogo Dalot was met on the head by the on-rushing Bruno Fernandes to draw things level.

The second-half continued in its first-half basketball-like theme with Manchester United continuing to generally be the better and more efficient side as they comfortably dealt with disjointed Chelsea attacks.

Then, mid-way through the second-half, the comeback was complete. A quick United counter led by Antony saw the Brazilian play an excellent trivela cross into the United area and, on the bounce, Garnacho ran in and bravely poked a header beyond Petrovic into the Chelsea goal.

Chelsea huffed and puffed with several Pochettino substitutions, such as Raheem Sterling and Carney Chukwuemeka, but they badly fizzled and United seemed like they would on for a surprising and vital victory.

However, deep into second-half stoppage-time, Noni Madueke skinned Diogo Dalot and the Portuguese defender fell into the trap and tripped the Englishman in the box with the referee pointing to the spot. Cole Palmer stepped up and confidently sent Andre Onana the wrong way.

Then, with seconds remaining, Chelsea began to pour forward again with Raheem Sterling and Carney Chukwuemeka having chances but then, with United slow to react from a short corner, Cole Palmer, with the aid of a deflection, put Chelsea, quite astonishingly, back ahead. 

UNBELIEVABLE!! 🔥

Cole Palmer steals the show to complete his hat trick and put Chelsea back in the lead! 🤩

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/2zEcknYHCD

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 4, 2024

The big picture: Chelsea were, once again, remarkably entertaining team to watch with both teams going at each other from the off. They keep themselves in contention for a top seven or eight finish and potential European qualification. Manchester United’s tilt at the top five and UEFA Champions League qualification has been majorly dented with the Red Devils nine points adrift.

Man of the match: Cole Palmer. A match winning hat-trick with a 99th minute equaliser and then a 101st minute winner means, quite simply, you are the man of the match.

EVENTS

Kick-off

‘4 | GOAL: Gallagher (1-0)

’19 | GOAL: Palmer [pen] (2-0)

’34 | GOAL: Garnacho (2-1)

’39 | GOAL: Fernandes (2-2)

Half-time

’67 | GOAL: Garnacho (2-3)

’90 | GOAL: Palmer [pen] (3-3)

’90 | GOAL: Palmer (4-3)

Full-time