Chelsea add insult to injury-time equaliser against Manchester United

Manchester City and Liverpool surged clear at the top of the EPL table as Jose Mourinho suffered in late drama at Chelsea.

Manchester United manager Jose Mournho takes exception to the celebrations of a Chesea assistant coach at Stamford Bridge. Picture: Getty Images

Manchester City displayed familiar champions’ swagger and Mo Salah rediscovered his goalscoring touch for Liverpool as the Premier League’s two pacesetters forged clear at the top of the table.

City destroyed Burnley 5-0 before Salah broke his scoring drought in Liverpool’s laboured 1-0 win at Huddersfield Town, yet it all paled beside the drama that once again engulfed Manchester United and Jose Mourinho in the day’s marquee match.

Mourinho’s side were poised to earn a comeback win at unbeaten Chelsea until a stoppage-time equaliser from substitute Ross Barkley earned the Blues a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge and sparked a pitch-side pantomime.

Mourinho was enraged by the provocative, in-your-face celebrations of Marco Ianni, one of Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri’s assistants, after the stoppage-time equaliser and had to be restrained as he tried to pursue his tormentor down the tunnel.

The charmless episode left Sarri accepting that the Chelsea bench was in the wrong and ordering his assistant to apologise to Mourinho.

The apology was accepted by Mourinho but the insult for him was certainly not as bad as missing out on all three points that his under-pressure side would have deserved.

Mourinho called it an “awful” result after one of their better performances of a chequered season. When City destroyed Burnley later in the day it meant United, now ninth, are nine points behind their neighbours.

City’s latest masterclass, with goals from Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho, Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez, brought manager Pep Guardiola as much delight as seeing Kevin De Bruyne back in action off the bench after an injury layoff.

On 23 points, City are ahead only on goal difference from similarly unbeaten Liverpool, who were grateful for Salah’s sharp first-half winner in their unconvincing slog at Huddersfield.

It was the Egyptian’s 50th goal in English football but only his fourth of this campaign.

Chelsea, who escaped with their unbeaten record intact, and Tottenham Hotspur, who earned a hard-fought 1-0 win at West Ham United courtesy of Erik Lamela’s deft header just before halftime, are level on 21 points.

At Stamford Bridge, Mour­inho’s side had gone one down when Antonio Rudiger headed home from a corner.

They rebounded with two second-half Anthony Martial goals and looked largely in control until Barkley’s strike.

The dramatic finish was then overshadowed by the late scuffle, which had been instigated by Ianni’s celebrations that Mourinho noted were “very impolite”. They evidently also irritated Sarri who was at pains to apologise to Mourinho himself.

“Of course, I want to speak to him again because I want to make sure he’s able to understand it was a big mistake,” Sarri said.

Bournemouth were held to a goalless draw by south coast rivals Southampton while Watford checked Wolverhampton Wanderers’ impressive progress with a 2-0 away win.

Cardiff City leapt out of the relegation zone in some style, beating Fulham 4-2. Newcastle United slumped to the bottom of the table after losing 1-0 to Brighton.

Reuters