Manchester City and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday night – and it was the first time Cole Palmer was back at the Etihad Stadium since his 2023 summer exit.
City dropped points against the Blues, after Liverpool and Arsenal had both won earlier in the day.
Raheem Sterling gave Chelsea the lead just before half-time, but City got back on level terms when Rodri scored without around 10 minutes to go.
City have a plethora of chances, with Erling Haaland not at his usual clinical best. The Norwegian spurned a host of presentable opportunities, much to the surprise of the home crowd.
A draw was probably a fair result in the end, and Pep Guardiola will hope his side can beat Brentford on Tuesday – the club’s game in hand – to close the gap at the top.
Cole Palmer sends message after making first return to the Etihad since leaving Manchester City
Yesterday was the first time Cole Palmer had been back at the Etihad since he left the club to join Chelsea in a £42.5 million transfer.
It had been an occasion Palmer had been looking forward to, with the winger hoping to get the chance to say some proper goodbyes to people at the stadium.
He started for Chelsea yesterday, and was easily one of the visitors’ best players.
Palmer released Nicolas Jackson who then played in Sterling for the Chelsea goal, and the England international just oozed confidence on his old stomping ground.
He was hooked after 70 minutes as Mauricio Pochettino sought to shore things up, but Palmer was impressive.
There were some boos as he went off, but most of the home supporters were applauding the 21-year-old.
Those few boos didn’t leave any bad taste for Palmer, who took to Instagram to say: “All square. Good performance, nice to be back!”
A great performance, and a nice reception
It was good to see the majority of City fans give Palmer a good reception – as Shaun Wright-Phillips predicted – on Saturday night.
Ultimately, he left the club on good terms and many understand that he didn’t particularly want to leave, he just had to in the end because of a lack of game time. He could not really be blamed for wanting to go when Chelsea called, and his decision has worked out well for him so far.
There were a few boos, but that is fairly common even for players who leave clubs on good terms.
It was nice to see Palmer back and hopefully he was able to catch up with a lot of people at the Etihad Stadium.
Fair play to him for his performance, it’s clear he is a serious talent.
