Raheem Sterling used three words—”intensity,” “aggression,” and “belief”—to describe what Chelsea did to win a justifiable portion of the spoils in a dramatic Sunday afternoon matchup versus Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

Cole Palmer’s injury-time penalty against his previous team ensured that we won the point that our performance more than deserved as the game in the capital ended 4–4.

Thiago Silva, who made history as our oldest goalscorer with his headed goal, Sterling, and Nicolas Jackson were all on target for the Blues. Sterling emphasised that the squad’s “character and belief” in sticking with it throughout the process is what ultimately led to the victory.

Shortly after the final siren, Raheem declared, “We’ve played against one of the best, if not the best, teams from the past seven or eight years and we’ve had a right go at them.

It’s a game that I think we could have got more from because we played with such belief and intensity but in the end, it’s certainly a good point for us.

It’s been a good week for us [beating Tottenham and drawing with Man City]. We’ve said for a while now, it’s been stepping stones all season for us.

Little things we’ve been working on we’re starting to build on now and you can see the belief in the squad, as we’ve just gone toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the world.

It was important we stood up to City because they’re a team if you sit off them and show them too much respect, they can just easily pick you off and punish you.

We stood up to them, we were aggressive in our pressing and all the boys showed a real hunger and intensity. We showed real character and I think we were rewarded in the end.”

Palmer and Sterling are two players that have experienced winning trophies during their time with the blue side of Manchester in the past.

Now that they are both wearing Chelsea blue, Sterling intends to add more trophies to their collection. Palmer’s maturity in maintaining composure to score the game-winning penalty in front of the Matthew Harding Stand was also commended.

“Cole took the penalty really well,’ said our No.7. “Fair play to him, he’s despatched it away and he’s comfortable in those situations.

It was a big moment but he kept his head for us when we needed him to come up with the goods.

Chelsea and City are two clubs that know success. You look over the past years, both sides have been used to winning trophies and challenging for titles.

That’s the level we need to get back to and performances like this one will help us get there, so we need to maintain those levels and keep building.”