Chelsea’s Palmer Comes Back to Haunt Man City in Thrilling 4-4 Draw 

Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)
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Chelsea’s Palmer Comes Back to Haunt Man City in Thrilling 4-4 Draw 

Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)

Former Manchester City player Cole Palmer scored a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Chelsea came back to draw 4-4 with the defending Premier League champions on Sunday.

Palmer left City for Chelsea in a deal worth around $52 million in September and showed supreme composure to fire past Ederson in the dying stages of a thrilling match at Stamford Bridge.

Rodri had looked like securing a win for Pep Guardiola's team with a deflected effort with four minutes left of regulation time.

But referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot when Ruben Dias slid into substitute Armando Broja in the box. After a delay, Palmer swept his shot into the corner to stop City moving three points clear at the top.

Chelsea dented Tottenham’s title ambitions with a wild 4-1 win against Ange Postecoglou’s team on Monday and proved a challenge for City, too, by coming back from behind on three occasions.

Erling Haaland fired City ahead from the penalty spot in the 25th after VAR adjudged Marc Cucurella to have fouled the Norwegian.

Thiago Silva evened the score four minutes later with header from Conor Gallagher’s corner.

Another former City player, Raheem Sterling, put Chelsea 2-1 up in the 37th by tapping in Reece James' cross after a sweeping attack,

The score was even again in first-half stoppage time when Bernardo Silva crossed for Manuel Akanji to head in.

City re-took the lead two minutes after the break, with Haaland the goal scorer again — sliding in to convert from close range.

Chelsea pushed again for an equalizer and Palmer was close to scoring when running from deep into the box and forcing a one-on-one save from Ederson.

Chelsea's third goal eventually came from Nicolas Jackson in the 67th. The striker fired in from the rebound after Gallagher’s long shot was parried.

Malo Gusto wasted a golden chance to put Chelsea ahead again by firing over from inside the box when he had the whole goal to aim at. And that miss proved costly when Rodri came up with what looked like the winner.

The Spain midfielder’s powerful effort from the edge of the box took a big deflection off Thiago Silva to send Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez the wrong way as the ball flew into the opposite corner.

It looked like being a cruel way to decide such a thrilling contest until Palmer's late intervention.



Sinner Eyes Smooth Start to US Open Campaign After Controversy 

Jannik Sinner of Italy speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 23, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Jannik Sinner of Italy speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 23, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Sinner Eyes Smooth Start to US Open Campaign After Controversy 

Jannik Sinner of Italy speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 23, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Jannik Sinner of Italy speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 23, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)

The first round of the US Open continues on Tuesday as the world's top players battle for Grand Slam glory in New York.

A host of big names will be in action as men's top seed Jannik Sinner meets Mackenzie McDonald while women's top seed Iga Swiatek meets Kamila Rakhimova.

French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz will also get his campaign underway against Li Tu while former Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Naomi Osaka are set to face off.

TOP MEN'S MATCH: SINNER v McDONALD

Controversy has surrounded Australian Open champion Sinner in the week before the year's final Grand Slam. The Italian escaped a doping ban having been cleared after twice testing positive for the banned drug clostebol in March.

Sinner, who maintains his innocence, has continued to play after successfully challenging provisional suspensions and comes into the match on the back of winning the Cincinnati title but he has been under intense scrutiny in New York so far.

"It's not ideal before a Grand Slam," Sinner said.

"But in my mind I know I haven't done anything wrong. I had to play already for months with this in my head, but remembering that I haven't done really anything wrong.

"I always respect that these rules and I always will respect these rules of anti-doping. Obviously a relief for myself having this result. It's just good to be back here ... I'll just try to enjoy as much as I can and hopefully have a good tournament."

The 23-year-old has weathered the storm so far but will hope to avoid a hostile reception from fans when he takes on American McDonald in the day session at Arthur Ashe.

TOP WOMEN'S MATCH: SWIATEK v RAKHIMOVA

Iga Swiatek will look to hit the ground running after a run to the Cincinnati semis as the Pole returns to the venue of her 2022 triumph still not as assured on hardcourts as she is on clay.

"In 2022, that was the Grand Slam that I was least chilled at. Even though I won, I didn't feel comfortable on the court at all. I didn't feel like I can play my game naturally," she said.

"It would be stupid for me to expect that I'm going to feel it (in the) next years. The 2022 Open actually taught me that I can win even though I'm not feeling 100%.

"So I wouldn't say I'm relaxed, because it's impossible to be relaxed in New York, especially, with everything that's going on around."

OSAKA FACES TRICKY TEST

Osaka has struggled to find the form that led her to four Grand Slam titles, including two at New York, after returning to the tour from a lengthy maternity break.

She faces a tricky hurdle in her opener in the form of 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko.