A hat-trick from Cole Palmer inspired Chelsea to a dramatic 4-3 victory over Manchester United in the Premier League on Thursday evening.
An unchanged line-up was shown by the host after the weekend draw with Burnley, while Harry Maguire, Casemiro and Antony came in ahead of Victor Lindelof, Scott McTominay and Marcus Rashford for the visitors.
It was a dream start for the Blues four minutes in when Conor Gallagher entered the six-yard area and drilled a cutback from the right-side through a diving Andre Onana.
Chelsea were further ahead inside the midway stage of the half as Cole Palmer fired into the bottom-corner from the spot after Antony had fouled Marc Cucurella.
The dominance continued where the Blues nearly added a third goal through a header at the far post by Axel Disasi following a floated delivery, but the hard-tackling defender missed target.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for United, who pulled one back late in the half when Alejandro Garnacho made full use of Moses Caicedo’s stray pass to slot past goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic.
Captain Bruno Fernandes brought United level five minutes before halftime after ran in the area to head in at the back-post from Diogo Dalot's cross.
Raphael Varane picked up an injury ahead of the second half and had to make way for Jonny Evans before the host presented no alterations.
Senegalese international Nicolas Jackson came extremely close to restore the home side’s lead through a surging effort from close-range, but Onana repelled.
The miss proved costly as the Red Devils went ahead around the closing quarter when Garnacho latched on the end of Antony’s through ball and tucked past Petrovic.
Late drama saw the Blues awarded a penalty in stoppage time, where Dalot brought down Noni Madueke, and Palmer stepped up to beat Onana for the second time.
Palmer stole the show in the last seconds when he completed a hat-trick after collecting a short pass from a corner and drilled in off Scott McTominay to see his side claim maximum points.
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