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Ross Barkley netted deep into injury time to rescue a point for Chelsea as their thrilling Premier League encounter with Manchester United ended in a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The away side were just seconds away from securing what would have been their second come-from-behind win in a row, but it wasn’t to be, despite a brace from Anthony Martial.
Antonio Rüdiger had opened the scoring with a powerful header at 21 minutes, only for Martial to level with 55 minutes played, before he fired in past a despairing Kepa in the Chelsea goal with 73 minutes on the clock.
But second-half substitute Barkley made no mistake when presented with the ball in the sixth minute of injury time to spark some sensational scenes in west London.
Jose Mourinho’s side had unsurprisingly set up to defend deep whenever Chelsea got on the ball, sometimes dropping as far as the halfway line.
Eden Hazard was naturally always a threat for the Red Devils and won a free kick in the 18-yard area after nine minutes, but Willian could only fire the set-piece well over the target.
After Romelu Lukaku headed wide from a United corner in a rare foray forward for the away side, Rüdiger showed how it should be done as he got a head start on Paul Pogba, from a Willian corner, to power home an unstoppable header.
Marcus Alonso so nearly added a second as he collected a Rüdiger pass on 31 minutes, but his touch let him down, while Álvaro Morata was well wide his strike from a Hazard lay-off.
An excellent run from Jorginho almost paid dividends at the start of the second half as he fed Morata, but the Spaniard couldn’t beat David de Gea in the United goal with his shot on the turn.
Astonishingly, though, United were level from their first real passage of incisive passing, with Martial firing home after an Ashley Young delivery had arrived at him in the box.
Chelsea had been unable to clear their lines after Juan Mata forced Chelsea stopper Kepa into a good low save. The goal lifted Mourinho’s side as they pressed their opponents back to create a much more open game, although there was a lack of quality with the final pass from both sides.
N’Golo Kanté so nearly restored the lead for the home side, but De Gea made an excellent one-handed save and the miss proved to be crucial as Martial put United ahead for the first time seconds later.
It was a clinical finish from the wide player who let his first touch take him inside of César Azpilicueta to fire into the far corner beyond Kepa.
The action was frenetic for the remainder of the tie, with Ander Herrera nearly in for United before a storming run from Hazard was brought to a halt by the retreating Marcus Rashford.
Penalty appeals were waved away later on as Herrera went down under a challenge from Kanté. But Chelsea were always a threat and deservedly found a late equaliser through Barkley.
David Luiz had initially hit the post with a header from wide before Rüdiger was denied by De Gea on the follow-up, only for the ball to drop kindly for Barkley, who made no mistake from close range.
United could have moved to within four points of Chelsea with the win, but remained in eighth place with 14 points, while the Blues moved on to first place with 21 points from nine games in the season. – TEAMtalk Media
