THERE have been more than 12,000 matches in the Premier League and few of them have captured the joyful high-speed chaos of the competition any better. <br /><br />Cole Palmer allowed to leave Manchester City by Pep Guardiola this summer, hammered home an injury-time penalty - Chelsea’s third equalizer of a manic and magnificent afternoon. <br /><br />That canceled out a deflected 87th-minute shot from Rodri after an Erling Haaland double and a Manuel Akanji header had put City in the driving seat.<br /><br />But Chelsea, who also scored through Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling, and Nicolas Jackson, fully deserved their point in an instant classic of a match. <br /><br />If ever you could say with a straight face that "football was the winner" then it was here. <br /><br />With a cast of world-class players, competing at breathless pace and intensity, it was as if Tchaikovsky had composed a thrash-metal tune on behalf of a symphony orchestra. <br /><br />What a belting game. Every bit as chaotic as Chelsea’s ridiculous 4-1 win at Tottenham on Monday but with far greater quality and without any of the VAR nonsense. <br /><br />Chelsea had failed to score a single goal in six straight defeats by City before this but they had been buoyed by Monday’s freak-show victory at Spurs.<br /><br />The only change from that 4-1 win was Levi Colwill’s absence through injury, which saw Pochettino select Marc Cucurella.<br /><br />And it was the left-back who conceded the softest of penalties which allowed Haaland to open the scoring midway through the first half. <br /><br />After Reece James and Moises Caicedo collided in the Chelsea box, Bernardo Silva centered from the left, and Cucurella tangled with Haaland. <br /><br />Ref Anthony Taylor is a hate figure at Stamford Bridge and he didn’t do his popularity rating any favors by pointing to the spot, from which Haaland drilled home left-footed for his 18th goal of the season, and his eighth in the last six. <br /><br />Chelsea had started with pace and intent, though, and they were soon level.<br /><br />First Enzo Fernades dived to win a free-kick, which Reece James curled and an elastic Ederson tipped over the bar. <br /><br />Conor Gallagher delivered the corner and Thiago made a cunning run at the near post to score with a downward header, his marker, Haaland having been blocked off by former team-mate Palmer.<br /><br />It was frenetic and high-class. Soon Phil Foden joined the party, darting through three defenders and crossing just too deep for Haaland, who volleyed into the side-netting. <br /><br />Foden then cut inside and curled a shot just wide of the far post.<br /><br />But it was Chelsea who seized the lead in a move involving their two former City players. <br /><br />First Palmer released James, Josko Gvadiol getting in a tangle and allowing the Blues skipper to center low for Sterling to tap in. <br /><br />Every man on the pitch was playing as if he had a machete between his teeth, it was high-tempo, rip-roaring, lock-up-your-daughters football.<br />
