NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
A hat-trick from Cole Palmer gave Chelsea a spectacular 4-3 win over Manchester United on Thursday night.
Conor Gallagher and a Palmer penalty gave Chelsea an early lead at Stamford Bridge, before Manchester United pulled off a comeback.
Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes equalised before the break, before the Argentine striker gave the impression of winning after a very good assist from Antony.
But as the game dragged on into stoppage time, the Blues won another shot and Palmer scored to salvage a point, before the England star struck back 82 seconds later to secure all three for the home side.
It will be one of the craziest matches in Premier League history and here are 4 things we learned from this epic encounter:
2-0 after 19 minutes, Chelsea may not fail to win the match. And yet, the “billion-pound bottle jobs” are looking for a solution.
Moises Caicedo, British football’s most beloved player, lowered his price slightly, leading to the collapse of Les Bleus.
A 3-2 defeat would have left Mauricio Pochettino’s task hanging in the balance, but two very, very late goals from Palmer allowed them to borrow the 3 points.
Can this kind of result encourage Chelsea? Well, there have already been several false dawns this season, but they have a lot to be proud of and stay informed about this fixture as they prepare for the challenge from Sheffield United on Sunday.
Palmer scored his first hat-trick as he continued his superb first season in west London.
The 21-year-old has scored 19 goals and 12 assists in 37 games, with his goal in the 90-11 minute being the last winning goal in Premier League history.
“When the 8 minutes were added, it gave us a special touch — crazy,” Palmer told TNT Sports after the game.
“We have to try to win as many games as possible. There’s nothing better to win like this.
“We thought that when we scored the second goal, the fans had lifted us up and I saw the coach say there were two minutes left and luckily I scored.
“You know, I’ve taken a lot of penalties, I’m going to miss a penalty, knock on wood. Scoring in the last minute is crazy.
When the line-ups were announced, eyebrows were raised as Marcus Rashford sent back to the bench in favour of Antony.
Erik ten Hag has explained that he is simply resting the England striker ahead of Sunday’s big clash against Liverpool, but Antony’s functionality could force him to reconsider.
The Brazilian winger was one of United’s most productive players at the Bridge, his night not getting off to the best start as he conceded a penalty after fouling Marc Cucurella to double Chelsea’s lead.
But he kept running strong and eventually combined what looked like Alejandro Garnacho’s winning goal with what could be the pass of the season, firing a sublime ball with the outside of his boot.
Maybe it’s just his time to lend a hand in the campaign and his first in the Premier League, but it was (mostly) worth the wait.
Ahead of the game, United won even more in the face of worrying news from the therapy room when it was announced that Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof would miss next month due to injury.
But at least Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans are back in action. Well, they will be for a while.
Varane substituted at half-time after clearly feeling some trepidation in the first half, with Evans taking his place. But the veteran defender was forced to retire 21 minutes later due to a challenge of his own.
Willy Kambwala has been substituted, but the 19-year-old and Maguire appear to be the only centre-backs Ten Hag can draw from, and with left-backs Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia still sidelined, one has to wonder what United’s role is. The medical team has been up to the task this season.
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