Chelsea's Palmer comes back to haunt Man City in thrilling 4-4 draw
Chelsea's Cole Palmer scores on a penalty kick during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. Credit: AP/Ian Walton
MANCHESTER, England — Former Manchester City player Cole Palmer scored a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Chelsea came back to draw 4-4 with the defending Premier League champions on Sunday.
Palmer left City for Chelsea in a deal worth around $52 million in September and showed supreme composure to fire past Ederson in the dying stages of a thrilling match at Stamford Bridge.
Rodri had looked like securing a win for Pep Guardiola's team with a deflected effort with four minutes left of regulation time.
But referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot when Ruben Dias slid into substitute Armando Broja in the box. After a delay, Palmer swept his shot into the corner to stop City moving three points clear at the top.
Chelsea dented Tottenham’s title ambitions with a wild 4-1 win against Ange Postecoglou’s team on Monday and proved a challenge for City, too, by coming back from behind on three occasions.
Erling Haaland fired City ahead from the penalty spot in the 25th after VAR adjudged Marc Cucurella to have fouled the Norwegian.
Thiago Silva evened the score four minutes later with header from Conor Gallagher’s corner.
Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. Credit: AP/John Walton
Another former City player, Raheem Sterling, put Chelsea 2-1 up in the 37th by tapping in Reece James' cross after a sweeping attack,
The score was even again in first-half stoppage time when Bernardo Silva crossed for Manuel Akanji to head in.
City re-took the lead two minutes after the break, with Haaland the goal scorer again — sliding in to convert from close range.
Chelsea pushed again for an equalizer and Palmer was close to scoring when running from deep into the box and forcing a one-on-one save from Ederson.
Chelsea players celebrate after Chelsea's Cole Palmer scored his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. Credit: AP/Ian Walton
Chelsea's third goal eventually came from Nicolas Jackson in the 67th. The striker fired in from the rebound after Gallagher’s long shot was parried.
Malo Gusto wasted a golden chance to put Chelsea ahead again by firing over from inside the box when he had the whole goal to aim at. And that miss proved costly when Rodri came up with what looked like the winner.
The Spain midfielder’s powerful effort from the edge of the box took a big deflection off Thiago Silva to send Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez the wrong way as the ball flew into the opposite corner.
It looked like being a cruel way to decide such a thrilling contest until Palmer's late intervention.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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