4th April, 2024
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Cole Palmer struck a hat-trick as Chelsea defeated Manchester United 4-3 at the Stamford Bridge on Thursday in a thrilling encounter.
Chelsea had opened the scoring four minutes into the match through Conor Gallagher. He gathered the ball off a rebound inside the box and fired home.
Chelsea doubled their lead from the penalty spot in the 19th minute. Palmer won the battle of wills as he drove the ball low into the right of the net, giving goalkeeper Andre Onana no chance.
United pulled one back after a terrible mistake. The defender ended up losing possession, allowing Alejandro Garnacho to pick up the ball before slotting it into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
United equalised six minutes to the end of the first half. Bruno Fernandes jumped highest to connect with a perfect cross from Diogo Dalot and planted his close-range header into the bottom left corner to make it 2-2.
The visitors scored their third goal in the 69th minute to make it 2-3. A nice lofted pass into the box by Antony was pounced on by Garnacho. His close-range header flashed past Djordje Petrovic and into the left of the goal.
United were running away with victory when Chelsea were awarded a penalty 10 minutes into added time.
Palmer won the battle of wills and sent an unstoppable penalty past Andre Onana into the bottom right corner.
A minute later, Palmer added the fourth goal for Chelsea and his third for the day. Enzo Fernandez passed the ball to Cole Palmer and he fired in a shot from the edge of the box which was deflected.