Chelsea vs Man City final score, result as late Palmer penalty pegs back champions in instant classic

Dom Farrell

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Chelsea vs Man City final score, result as late Palmer penalty pegs back champions in instant classic image

STAMFORD BRIDGE, LONDON — Cole Palmer held his nerve to dispatch a stoppage-time penalty for Chelsea, joining Raheem Sterling in scoring against his former employers Manchester City in an astonishing 4-4 draw.

Chelsea had lost the past six editions of this fixture without scoring a goal but came from behind three times to earn a point against Pep Guardiola's side, who edged back in front of Arsenal and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.

Erling Haaland opened the scoring from the penalty spot and scrambled home his 17th of the season early in the second half, but goals from Thiago Silva and Nicolas Jackson levelled the score at 1-1 and 3-3 respectively.

Sterling applied the finish to a low 37th-minute cross from the excellent Reece James, giving Chelsea the lead for the only time in an undulating affair, with Manuel Akanji left unmarked to head home Bernardo Silva's cross and send City in 2-2 at the break.

Thiago Silva looked like suffering a bitterly unfair ending to his afternoon when he diverted Rodri's speculative left-footed effort beyond Robert Sanchez four minutes from time.

But there was a further twist as Ruben Dias blundered into substitute Armando Broja to concede the late spot-kick. The 21-year-old Palmer, who left City to join Chelsea in a £42.5 million deal in August, held his nerve as Ederson guessed correctly to make it four out of four from 12 yards for his new club.

Chelsea vs Man City final score

  Fulltime Goalscorers
Chelsea 4 Silva '29, Sterling '37, Jackson '67, Palmer (pen) 90+5
Man City 4 Haaland (pen) '25, '47 Akanji '45+1, Rodri '86

Lineups:

Chelsea (4-3-3, right to left): 1. Robert Sanchez — 24. Reece James (27. Malo Gusto), 2. Axel Disasi, 6. Thiago Silva, 3. Marc Cucurella— 23. Conor Gallagher, 8. Enzo Fernandez (10. Mykhailo Mudryk), 25. Moises Caicedo (19. Armando Broja) — 20. Cole Palmer, 15. Nicolas Jackson (16. Chimuanya Ugochukwu), 7. Raheem Sterling.

Man City (4-2-3-1, right to left): 31. Ederson (GK) — 2. Kyle Walker, 25. Manuel Akanji, 3. Ruben Dias, 24. Josko Gvardiol — 16. Rodri, 20. Bernardo Silva — 47. Phil Foden, 19. Julian Alvarez (8. Mateo Kovacic), 11. Jeremy Doku (10. Jack Grealish) — 9. Erling Haaland.

Sterling proves his point to Guardiola and Southgate

Palmer dominated much of the pre-match conversation and his ice-cool late contribution will justifiably take the headlines. But across 100 enthralling minutes, Stamford Bridge arguably witnessed the re-emergence of one of England's best players of the past decade.

Times have been tough for Sterling since his summer 2021 heroics at the Euros. He fell out of favour at City as Guardiola decided he wanted more playmaking qualities from his wingers. Chelsea became a rolling catastrophe not long after he joined and the 28-year-old has not featured in an England squad since the Qatar World Cup. That's even more problematic when you consider the embarrassment of riches Gareth Southgate has at his disposal in the wide attacking positions.

But the former City favourite has quietly returned to better form under Pochettino and this was his best performance since England's Euro 2020 semifinal win over Denmark. The relentless, menacing dribbling, and intelligent, incessant movement was all back and in good order. Kyle Walker knows all about those qualities but the great right-back has had few tougher outings over recent years. Sterling still faces a race against time to make Euro 2024 but he has just given himself a thrilling jump start.

Pochball arrives at Stamford Bridge

As Rodri tore off to celebrate what he thought might be the winner, Stamford Bridge rose to applaud their team, to rouse their heroes. Over the past couple of years, this place has not often been at one with the players in dark blue shirts before them. But this rollercoaster game served as an exorcism and became a celebration.

City don't often find themselves in the sort of back-and-forth game that marooned them on a sodden west London evening. After Sterling made it 2-1 and Jackson scored his fourth goal this week — converting the rebound to make it 3-3 when Ederson saved from the superb Conor Gallagher — they felt overwhelmed.

It had become the sort of game Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp used to force Guardiola to endure during his early years in England. To do that to this all-conquering City side is no mean feat. The league table shows Chelsea 10th at the November international break with four wins from 12 attempts. Now it is time to harness what they found today and make it count.

Guardiola's Doku gamble backfires

Guardiola told Sky Sports that he woke up this morning and decided to start Jeremy Doku ahead of Jack Grealish. Hard as that is to believe for a man who famously agonises over all things tactical, if we take the Catalan at his word it might be time to switch up his morning routine.

Without the injured John Stones, City were robbed of one of the players who adds Guardiola's cherished control to proceedings. He already lost Ilkay Gundogan to Barcelona in the summer. Grealish proved to be a master of helping to dictate the tempo and hold possession and width on the left-hand side during City's treble run but, perhaps slightly uncharacteristically, Guardiola was swayed by Doku's box-office start to life in England.

The ebullient Belgium international had his toughest outing in a City shirt as he was expertly shackled by James. He was booked for diving and missed a good chance to make it 4-2 before making way for Grealish, who came on and did all those solid Grealish things very well. But the game had a life of its own by that point. Guardiola's selection invited Pochettino to meet fire with fire and his old foe was never likely to back down.

Chelsea vs Man City as it happened, highlights, and commentary

Fulltime: Bernardo Silva plays an awful pass across the field. One more run for Sterling. It's halted by a huge tackle by Kovacic. Pochettino is furious about that and walks on the pitch to carry on the chat. Kyle Walker stops his old Spurs boss for a big hug. He returns it, probably grateful for that rubbish free-kick. City return to the top of the Premier League by a point but will be disappointed to have drawn a game they led three times. Stamford Bridge has been a miserable place over the past year or so, but the ground is still packed and they're applauding their heroes. We might look back on this as the day when Pochettino's Chelsea had lift-off.

90th minute+9: Kyle Walker is the surprise taker. He won't get another in a hurry. We're over the allocated period of stoppage time but there was about three minutes between the award of the penalty and Palmer scoring. We're having a 100-minute game.

90th minute+7: An end to the counter-attacks? Nah, don't be daft. Sterling flies in to bring down Foden. He's booked and City have a free-kick in prime position about 25 yards out.

95th minute+5:  GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Cole Palmer (pen)!!!!!!

No mistake from Palmer. Ederson guesses right but he strikes it true, rising into the left corner. What an incredible game.

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94th minute: There's a load of nonsense going on. Palmer has taken himself away from it.

92nd minute: PENALTY TO CHELSEA!!!!!! Dias flies in on substitute Broja. No doubt about that. Stone-waller. Now, is this going to be Cole Palmer? He's got the ball.

90th minute: Eight minutes of stoppage time. Hard to bet against another goal...

86th minute: GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Rodri!!!!!

City's man for the big moments strikes again, albeit with a huuuuuge slice of luck. Kovacic had a pop from outside the box and it was blocked. The ball eventually fell to Rodri, who swung his left foot through it and the speculative shot takes a massive and decisive deflection off Thiago Silva to leave Sanchez with no chance.

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85th minute: A scampering run through midfield from Kovacic, one they recognise all too well in these parts. He finds Grealish, whose cross is too long for Haaland.

82nd minute: Gallagher, who has been everywhere today blunders into Rodri and weighs in with a bit of afters. The City man, on a yellow remember, isn't biting.

81st minute: City look disorganised every time Chelsea run at them. Palmer to Mudryk, who can't quite sort his feet out. As if to underline the verve Chelsea are playing with, Gallagher tries a volley from 35 yards.

79th minute: Grealish, who is calming this down as best he can, gets into a tangle with Sterling to concede a free-kick near the Chelsea area. Kovacic replaces Alvarez against his former club to largely warm applause. That's a notable defensive move, or at least one to try and control the closing 10 minutes from Guardiola.

78th minute: Gusto is coming back on after having some treatment. "Malo Gusto... we need you!" hollers a Chelsea fan in the crowd dramatically.

75th minute: Sterling comes in off the right, rolls away from another challenge and plays in Gusto. Oh, what a horrible miss. Chelsea should be ahead! 

74th minute: It is slide-tackle weather out there! Disasi motors into a brilliant challenge on Alvarez. Grealish is late on Sterling but advantage is played. Akanji with a massive challenge on Jackson. If he mistimed that he was taking walk.

73rd minute: Ederson comes out of his area and hits a clearance right into Kyle Walker's arm. No handball. That was weird. Anthony Taylor gets pelters again.

72nd minute: Palmer turns away from Rodri, who absolutely takes the yellow.

70th minute: Into the final 20 minutes. Absolutely throwing it down. Where's your money?

68th minute: Back come City and they have a penalty claim. However, as Taylor correctly indicates, Bernardo Silva's cross struck the sprawling Disasi on the head.

67th minute: GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Nicolas Jackson!!!!!

Gallagher unleashes a thunderous strike. Ederson can only push it back into his penalty area and Jackson dispatches the rebound. His fourth goal this week. Is Ederson still struggling with that injury?

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65th minute: There's a delay because Ederson appears to be feeling the effects of that save from Palmer.

64th minute: Double change for Chelsea. James, who has been exceptional and you have to assume Pochettino is protecting his captain's fitness, comes off for Gusto, while Mudryk is on for Fernandes. That's an attacking one and means Sterling over to the right wing and Palmer as a No. 10.

61st minute: A Bernardo Silva turn that makes the reporter next to me make Gary Neville-esque noise. Here's Grealish. He approaches James and fires a square ball along the edge of the box to Foden. Sanchez saves his shot.

60th minute: Grealish is on... oh and here's Palmer. Past Rodri, past Dias... Ederson saves. What a goal that would have been. What a game this is.

58th minute: Haaland spears a glorious ball to Doku, who has room to run at Disasi with that pesky James out of the picture. He finds space to shoot but plonks it straight at Sanchez.

57th minute: The Sterling-Walker duel resumes. And that one is going better for the attacker. Ederson bravely collects Sterling's low cross.

56th minute: James shows Doku away from goal, then the Belgium winger throws himself to the ground in the box. A clear and correctly awarded yellow card for diving. Grealish is coming on.

50th minute: Rodri sets one up for Alvarez and Sanchez saves a stinging volley. Arguably for the first time in the contest City are clearly in the ascendency. You feel Chelsea can't afford to fall further behind.

48th minute: There was an extensive VAR check after that, given the untidy nature of the finish. The ball appeared to brush Haaland's elbow when it was already over the line. But the decisive touch came from, well, you'll see the replays...

47th minute: GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Erling Haaland!!!!!!

City break with pace and precision. Foden slots a pass to Alvarez, who drills into the box. A sliding Haaland bundles it into the net, more or less ending up in the net before the ball. Not his prettiest goal. He does not mind one bit.

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46th minute: Back underway. Early free-kick for Chelsea that Cole Palmer swings into the box but that's easily dealt with.

Halftime: Taken short and Ederson gathers the eventual delivery. My word, what a half of football. We'll see you shortly.

45th minute+6: Sterling again, now Jackson, whose shot spanks Kyle Walker on the backside. Corner to Chelsea. One more chance in this incredible half.

45th minute+1: GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Manuel Akanji!!!!!!

City are level and Mauricio Pochettino is absolutely furious just below us. The corner is taken short to Bernardo Silva, who flights in a nice enough delivery. It looks even nicer because no one in a dark blue shirt bothers to mark Ajanji, who leaps unchallenged to head home.

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45th minute: Doku, who's been fairly quiet, twists and turns but Palmer sticks to his task and it's a corner for City. There will be six minutes of additional time, after which everyone gets oxygen.

44th minute: Sterling again. He's all over Walker at the moment. Now a shot from Jackson and Ederson saves.

43rd minute: Foden cuts in for a low shot and that's a more routine stop for Sanchez.

42nd minute: Alvarez gets in a mess and City need a last-ditch challenge from Dias to thwart Jackson. Now Bernardo Silva gets the visitors on the attack. This is mayhem. Haaland, surely... magnificent save from Sanchez! Huge!

41st minute: Sterling has Walker backpedalling but curls his shot wide.

40th minute: Chelsea careering forward on transition again. James has had a gargantuan half. The attack ends with Fernandez batting a shot that is deflected, or blocked or something. Then Cucurella tears after Rodri to press high. Stamford Bridge is rocking.

39th minute: City look for an instant response. Alvarez drills towards the six-yard box but Disasi gets there ahead of Haaland.

37th minute: GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Raheem Sterling!!!!!!

Sterling scores the sort of goal he scored so many times for City. Palmer slots a pass to the overlapping James, Gvardiol gets himself into an almighty mess and Sterling is on hand to tap home at the far post. We have a game on here!

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34th minute: Rodri emerges from the midfield strafu and finds Foden. The England star works it onto his left foot and curls a lovely shot. That's centimetres wide a best. 

32nd minute: Ooofff, blimey. Foden does well to scamper in between three Chelsea players. He entirely mishits the cross but Sanchez flaps underneath it. Haaland at the backpost... into the side netting!

28th minute: GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Thiago Silva!!!!!!

The oldest man on the pitch gets to the near post and converts Gallagher's corner smartly for Chelsea's first goal against City since the 2021 Champions League final! Haaland switched off there.

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27th minute: Free-kick to Chelsea in a dangerous position. They've responded very well to going behind. Here's James... ohhh, fabulous save from Ederson.

25th minute: GOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Erling Haaland (pen)!!!!!!

There were a few checks, including one to see whether Doku had fouled a Chelsea player in the build-up. It turned out James and Disasi ran into one another. Anyway, Haaland isn't bothered by all the external noise and rams home his 16th of the season.

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21st minute: PENALTY TO MANCHESTER CITY! Silva cross to the backpost, Haaland gets the wrong side of Cucurella, who grabs at him. The defender panicked and that is a spot-kick. VAR will have a look.

20th minute: Ederson plays Dias into a bit of trouble. That resulted in a 50-50 with Gallagher, who has stayed down. A bit of pinball and another botched Akjanji clearance. City survive.

19th minute: James and Palmer combine smartly down the City left. Fernandez aims a ball towards the City box that Akanji only half clears. It sits up nicely for Gallagher, who strikes it sweetly but straight at Ederson.

16th minute: Akanji, who has the John Stones roving into midfield brief, turns and glides away to win a free-kick off Gallagher. City work the ball around, Rodri slides a pass to Alvarez. He tries one of those thudding, short backlift Argentinian finishes. Think Sergio Aguero. Cucurella blocks for a corner. Alvarez's delivery is deep and Sanchez punches Gvardiol's header on the bounce.

12th minute: Palmer cuts inside to shoot on his left foot. Akanji has seen this one before on the training ground and blocks. The pass to Gallagher who was unmarked on the edge of the box was probably a better option.

10th minute: Doku gets his first look at James, twists and turns and under-hits a pass to Foden.

8th minute: Walker wins City's first corner. Alvarez waits to take it. There's a load of nonsense going on in the box. The same description might work for that corner. Jackson looks to get the run on Walker on the break, which is something of a fool's errand.

6th minute: Slightly frantic end-to-end stuff, as Alvarez's cross towards Haaland is cleared and then Sterling bursts up the other end and can't collect Jackson's return flick.

5th minute: Alvarez fouls Argentina colleague Fernandez, referee Taylor waves "play on". Foden gets a challenge in to concede a corner. Ederson gathers with ease.

4th minute: Foden wins a free-kick and during the break in play Guardiola calls over Haaland for some fairly extensive instructions.

3rd minute: Doku and Alvarez combine to find Silva on the left. Palmer is back to snuff out the danger against his old teammate and win the goalkick.

2nd minute: Jackson tries to deftly play Sterling in behind, although the Chelsea winger knows all about Walker's recovery pace. Now Jackson almost closes down a clearance from Ederson. Positive start from Chelsea.

1st minute: Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson gets us underway. It's throwing it down. Early attack from the hosts and Gvardiol blocks James' drilled cross.

5 mins prior to kickoff: The teams are out and there will be a minute's silence prior to kickoff to mark Remembrance Sunday in the UK. Liverpool's win over Brentford means Jurgen Klopp's men have joined City and Arsenal on 27 points at the summit. Can Guardiola's side re-establish a three-point advantage?

12 mins prior to kickoff: Guardiola has been speaking to Sky Sports about that Doku-Grealish decision.

I wake up today and say for Jeremy. I rely a lot on Jack, Phil, Jeremy, Bernardo on the outside. I don't have any doubts about what they offer to the team. Jeremy is special in the final third. We see how he behaves.

MORE: Jack Grealish vs Jeremy Doku: Pep Guardiola's Barbenheimer dilemma

20 mins prior to kickoff: It's definitely an interesting selection from Pep Guardiola. Doku's form has made him pretty impossible to ignore but it's a long time since City went into a big away game like this without Grealish providing all the control, poise and tempo he brings on the left flank, giving the treble-winners shape. The former Aston Villa favourite retains possession expertly, more carefully than any of Doku, Julian Alvarez or Phil Foden. That means we could get the sort of open game Guardiola typically tries to avoid against coaches like Pochettino and teams as potentially strong in transition as Chelsea.

40 mins prior to kickoff: Most of Chelsea's attacking threat today is likely to come from two former City players. After winning four Premier League titles amid a slew of major honours, it is likely Raheem Sterling's time at the Etihad Stadium will be remembered as his career high point. By contrast, Cole Palmer provides a story of what might have been. The 21-year-old came through City's academy and was on the fringes of the first team for the past two seasons before completing a £42.5m move to Stamford Bridge. Palmer has quickly established himself as first choice on the right wing for Chelsea and has also taken on penalty responsibilities. You get the sense he will be relishing this one.

Getty Images

MORE: In-form Chelsea star Cole Palmer ready to haunt former club Man City

58 mins prior to kickoff: And this is the City XI. Five changes from the side that beat Young Boys in midweek. Some of that is rotation, but Manuel Akanji comes in for the injury John Stones in defence and Doku gets the nod over Grealish on the left flank. The England international is on the bench. Nathan Ake is absent from the matchday squad with an injury.

1 hour prior to kickoff: The teams are in. One change from the Chelsea side that beat Tottenham, with Marc Cucurella starting at left-back. Levi Colwill has not made the matchday squad due to a shoulder complaint. Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling start as expected against their former club.

1 hr 20 mins prior to kickoff: Team news will be with us in 20 minutes or so. Jack Grealish made the left-wing position his own at City over the second half of last season but Jeremy Doku’s stunning start to life in the Premier League means he has renewed competition for occasions like this. Guardiola gave Grealish the nod for the Manchester derby at Old Trafford two weeks ago and he performed superbly, but Doku was back in to mastermind the 6-1 routing of Bournemouth, opening the scoring before laying on a staggering four assists.

Guardiola had plenty of warm words for Grealish in his pre-match news conference. If you were cynical you’d say he was buttering him up to be dropped…

He’s one of the most beloved guys in the locker room. He's a strong guy and enjoys physical contact. He's so brave. It's his game. We are really pleased with him in the last games and his mentality in training sessions. First year and last year especially was decisive. Every year he gets better.

In terms of the community and how he takes care of the kids too. He always stops to write signatures and he has good connections out of the bubble professional people live. He's down to earth and I love working with him. He's so sensible and close to his family. We love him so much.

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1 hr 40 mins prior to kickoff: Since beating City in the 2021 Champions League final, Chelsea have lost all six editions of this fixture and failed to score in any of those games. They've also won one Premier League home game since March. However, if you're looking for reasons to be cheerful from a Blues point of view, then look at their performances against other members of the so-called "big six" this season. They drew at home with Liverpool and Arsenal, taking a 2-0 lead in the latter game. Then there was Monday's absolutely barking mad 4-1 win at Tottenham. The better the opposition, the better Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea tend to play and the Argentine has previous in terms of coming out on top against Pep Guardiola.

Nicolas Jackson
Getty Images

2 hours prior to kickoff: Hello and welcome to the Sporting News' live coverage of Chelsea vs. Manchester City from Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea vs Man City lineups, team news

Chelsea's injury picture is beginning to slowly ease, with Armando Broja set to return to the squad. The striker could start on the bench.

Pochettino only made one change from the win at Tottenham, with Marc Cucurella replacing Levi Colwill at left-back. Cucurella came on at halftime against Spurs in place of Colwill, who is not in the matchday squad.

Chelsea lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Sanchez — James, Disasi, Silva, Cucurella— Gallagher, Fernandez, Caicedo — Palmer, Jackson, Sterling.

Guardiola confirmed an injury to John Stones in the Champions League win over Young Boys, with the England star out for "a while" according to his manager. Manuel Akanji suffered a back injury during the warmup for that game but returns to take Stones' place.

Guardiola has no issues in attack aside from long-term absentee Kevin De Bruyne, with Jeremy Doku preferred to Jack Grealish on the left-wing.

Man City lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Ederson (GK) — Walker, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol — Rodri, Silva — Foden, Alvarez, Doku — Haaland.

Chelsea vs Man City live stream, TV channel

The Chelsea vs. Manchester City match from the Premier League kicks off at 4:30 p.m. local time from Stamford Bridge in London.

Below are the corresponding times, TV channels, and live streams to watch the match in regions around the world

IN CANADA: Watch this match in 4k on Fubo Canada (on 4k devices)

  Date Kickoff time TV Streaming
USA Sun Nov. 12 11:30 a.m. ET USA Network, Telemundo Fubo, NBC app/website, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo
Canada Sun Nov. 12 11:30 a.m. ET — Fubo Canada
UK Sun Nov. 12 4:30 p.m. GMT Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League Sky GO, Now TV
Australia Mon Nov. 13  3:30 a.m. AEDT — Optus Sport
India Sun Nov. 12 10:00 p.m. IST — Hotstar VIP,
JioTV
Hong Kong Mon Nov. 13 12:30 a.m. HKT Now Premier League (Ch. 620-621) Now TV
Malaysia Mon Nov. 13 12:30 a.m. MYT Astro SuperSport 3 Astro GO
Singapore Mon Nov. 13  12:30 a.m.  SGT Hub Premier 1 & 2 (Ch. 221-222) StarHub TV+
New Zealand Mon Nov. 13   5:30 a.m. NZDT Sky Sport Premier League Sky Sport NOW

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.