A crazy match for a finale… even crazier! Chelsea supporters traveled to all states for the historic display of the 31st day of the Premier League against Manchester United. Excited about their team’s start, leading 2-0. Then dejected when seeing the Red Devils go in front in the second half. And, finally, jubilant when Cole Palmer scored, in quick succession, two goals in added time to obtain an unexpected victory (4-3). The regrets will clearly be on the side of Manchester United, who did the hardest with their comeback, before being caught in the final seconds by the vengeful Blues. It seems like nothing, it’s a sixth game in a row without defeat in the Premier League for Chelsea.
Chelsea and Manchester United wanted to give our money’s worth, on this Thursday, April 4, 2024, a priori without incident. Because it is an understatement to say that the two teams fought a fairly incredible battle, with a scenario worthy of the best spy films, that is to say with plenty of twists and turns. It initially turned clearly in favor of the Blues, who opened the scoring on their first action, thanks to Conor Gallagher (1-0, 4th). They converted the try a few minutes later, when Cole Palmer wrong-footed André Onana on a penalty, after Antony’s foul on Marc Cucurella (2-0, 19th). Absolutely everything was smiling at Chelsea, and we thought victory would be easy. This was without counting an error from Moisés Caicedo.
Palmer crucifies Manchester
Caicedo put the Red Devils back in the match by missing a pass in his half towards Benoît Badiashile. It then transformed into an offering for Alejandro Garnacho, who did not ask for so much (2-1, 34th). The start of Erik ten Hag’s men was confirmed when Bruno Fernandes headed in a good cross from Diogo Dalot, at the end of a great collective action (2-2, 39th). Manchester United regained color in five short minutes, the momentum changed sides and it was with their heads down that the Chelsea players returned to the locker room at the break.
The psychological ascendancy was still for Manchester at the start of the second act, especially as Onana kept his team afloat with a few decisive saves (53rd, 59th). The first twist ended up arriving, when Garnacho, again, took a sublime opening from the outside of Antony’s foot (2-3, 67th). We couldn’t imagine Chelsea recovering from it. It would have been a bit of a cruel comeback to digest, while the Londoners were much better for a good part of the first period.
But the Red Devils seem to have forgotten that a match only ends when the whistle blows. In added time, they completely broke down. Dalot, in the lead, unbalancing Noni Madueke in his own area. The VAR validated the penalty, the second for Chelsea in this part, and it was again scored by Palmer (3-3, 90th + 10). We could have stuck to this ultimately quite logical parity score. But the Blues pulled out one last sleight of hand: on a very quickly played corner, they took their opponents by surprise, and Palmer was able to send one last shot deep, certainly deflected by Scott McTominay (4-3, 90th +11). Completely crazy, and hats off to the artists.