Chelsea 4-3 Manchester United
by Layth Yousif
at Stamford Bridge
TWO late Cole Palmer goals in the 100th and 101st minutes of this stunning game sparked incredible scenes in front of 39,694 fans at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening.
With Erik ten Hag's Manchester United leading Chelsea 3-2 with 99 minutes and 17 seconds on the clock – improbably, inexplicably, amazingly, Mauricio Pochettino's Blues staged a remarkable comeback for the ages, sparked by former Manchester City attacker Palmer’s two late goals to make it a hattrick overall to win this enthralling contest.
Palmer, 21 - who surely must feature for England at this summer's European Championships in Germany - grabbed two late strikes to send this part of West London into raptures, not to mention utter bedlam as the home support celebrated with deep and joyous intensity on and off the pitch.
It was Palmer's 19th goal in 36 appearances since his £42.5m summer move from City in arguably the best transfer of the year, as he guided his side to their first win over United since the 2017 FA Cup final in a relentlessly mesmerising game in rain-lashed SW6.
"It was amazing," said a delighted Pochettino after the match. "We were the better team and it was fair we scored in the last minute.
"It was important to finish like that, creating the connection between our fans and players. It's a very good thing that happened.
"It should be a turning point for the fans' trust in the team."
At the final whistle of this stunning clash, everywhere you looked United players were desolate and dejected, after they went into the record books, as the latest a side has ever led in a Premier League match but went on to lose. It was also the second time in less than a week United had lost a lead in added time, following their underwhelming 1-1 at Brentford during Easter.
A shellshocked ten Hag trying to make sense of what he had just seen, said afterwards: "We started poor, making individual errors...then in stoppage time, we didn't bring the win over the line.
"You have to do your job, you have to make the right decisions, and we didn't react quick enough to avoid this situation."
He added: "We have to make better decisions."
In a breathtaking match, Conor Gallagher fired past Onana after only four minutes to put the Blues 1-0 ahead. The 28-year-old Cameroon international got a hand to the ball, but couldn't stop it from entering the net, following Malo Gusto's cross deflecting off Raphael Varane.
Marc Cucurella fired over the bar prior to referee Jarred Gillett awarding his first penalty of the evening. The decision came after Mykhailo Mudryk played the ball into the box - with Antony and Cucurella making the briefest of contact - but certainly enough for Gillett to award a spot kick. In truth it was a lazy challenge from the former Ajax attacker that left Gillett no option.
Up stepped the clinical Palmer who slotted home with aplomb, sending Onana the wrong way as the home side doubled their lead on 19 minutes to make it 2-0.
It could have been three moments afterwards, when Blues No2 Axel Disasi headed over the bar, when well-placed. It was Mudryk's turn next to try and breach Onana's goal again, following a worthy drive at the heart of United's ponderous backline by the blue and white-haired Nicolas Jackson, whose neat through ball to free Mudryk on the edge of the box deserved better.
On 34 minutes United pulled a goal back through Alejandro Garnacho after a sloppy ball across the Blues backline by Moises Caicedo saw the 19-year-old Argentina winger capitalise, after a driving run and neat finish past Petrovic to make it 2-1.
Five minutes later pandemonium broke out among the United hordes massed in the Stamford Bridge away end, when Bruno Fernandes headed home Diogo Dalot's deep cross into the box to make it 2-2 in a breathless first half.
There was still time for Mudryk to hit the post before the interval in an opening 45 minutes that perfectly encapsulated the good and bad in both sides.
One of the few bright sparks this season for United has been the emergence of Kobbie Mainoo, with the 18-year-old's consistently excellent performances for the Red Devils - and now England - giving United hope of a better future. Yet the youngster was overwhelmed with Chelsea's chaotic counters at times.
After the break, to add to the high sense of farce, Harry Maguire powered through the Chelsea defence to unleash a thunderous shot that narrowly angled over Petrovic's bar.
Pochettino and ten Hag then engaged in a war of words after Maguire upended Jackson on the halfway, with Palmer also getting involved. It is always unedifying to see two managers argue in public, but, alas, also strangely watchable too. A criticism of the human condition as much as Maguire's agricultural challenge on Jackson.
In a relentlessly mesmerising spectacle, both teams traded blows - thankfully metaphorically - as Fernandes fired home, prior to Palmer testing Onana's hands with a stinging effort that the United keeper did well to keep out, such was the ferocity.
The pressure told eventually, as Garnacho nodded home on 67 minutes to complete a remarkable turnaround, with the added notion that maybe fifth place wasn't completely sown up yet.
As the clock ticked down, there was still time for an increasingly disgruntled Stamford Bridge to roundly boo one of its former players in Mason Mount, as United's player came on late on.
However, just as you thought that the visitors would be leaving the Bridge with all three points, as we entered the 99th minute with United 3-2 up, Pochettino's Chelsea showed immense reserves of character to stage a stunning comeback.
With eight minutes added time announced, remarkably in the 90+10th minute there was drama aplenty as referee Gillett awarded a penalty to the home side after Dalot made contact with Noni Madueke. Up stepped Palmer to send Onana the wrong way for the second this on a memorable evening to level at 3-3.
But that wasn't the end of matters.
Unbelievably, there was still more to come when Palmer found himself in space from Enzo Fernandez’s corner, as he fired an effort towards Onana. Crucially, and agonisingly for United, Scott McTominay’s deflection took the ball past Onana and into the net - to give Chelsea a victory for the ages, and Palmer his hattrick.
Cue absolute pandemonium at the Bridge as the Chelsea bench ran here, there and everywhere in deep joy, sparking chaotic scenes on and off the pitch in an unbridled frenzy that led to Caicedo being booked for over celebrating.
There was little more time than for a dejected and dispirited United side to kick-off before the final whistle was blown to end, for this observer at least, the game of the season.
The result sees United remain in sixth, nine points behind Tottenham in fifth, while Chelsea move up into the top half of the table in 10th place.
What excitement. What a match. What a result.
Albeit between two sides nowhere near challenging for the title.
