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The Premier League returned with 2 days of exhilarating football that pinned us to our pubs and the idiot boxes and the cracks in the provinces of England are as evident as they have ever been.
In a season where the final chapter was written a bit too early, the writers (whoever they are) had surprisingly reserved some spine-tingling twists of which a thoroughly riveting Manchester derby was a feature.
But the limelight needn't fall exclusively on the city of Manchester as there are plenty of takeaways from yet another exciting Premier League gameweek. And as the season is drawing to a close, several conclusions are bound to be made.
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So, let's get to it:
#5 Wilfried Zaha is the only man that can save Crystal Palace
When Crystal Palace were just a load of pants at the beginning of the season thanks to Frank de Boer's apparent lack of ideas, they so sorely missed Wilfried Zaha who was out with an injury.
On his return, things didn't change much immediately as they succumbed 3-0 to Huddersfield at Selhurst Park. But it would have been criminal to expect things to turn around at the wave of the wand, eh? Next week, they rained on Chelsea's parade as Zaha chipped in with a goal and got them over the line for the first time in the season.
Crystal Palace would perhaps be at a much much better place if somebody could barge into their dressing rooms and provide a rational supply of Adderall for the last 10 minutes of every game. They bottled a one-goal lead against Bournemouth after Zaha's breathtaking artistry got the ball to brush the back of the net with just quarter of an hour left to play.
But Crystal Palace did a Crystal Palace once again as they let Josh King equalize in the 89th minute of the game. This has been the story of their season, hasn't it? Worse yet, they lost points against the best in the league in the dying embers and it's all down to a lack of doggedness in the final minutes of the game.
Currently, Crystal Palace are 17th on the table with 31 points, 3 points clear of the relegation zone. And from here on, it doesn't look like survival is above their heads.
Crystal Palace have home games against Leicester City, West Bromwich Albion and Brighton coming up, and if they can get favourable results out of these 3 bouts, they can enjoy the Premier League privileges next season.
But to do that, in a team that's starved of quality in more positions than one, they will need nobody other than their star performer Wilfried Zaha to buoy them towards the safety of the coast.
#4 Stoke vs Tottenham and a tale of errors
Stoke City gave a good account of why they are where they are (19th on the table) even after taking the game to Tottenham and threatening to cause an upset as they failed to take the gilt-edged chances that came their way.
Badou Ndiaye could have done so much for this Stoke side had he been fit for the greater part of this season. His industry helped dispossess Spurs on numerous occasions with the most notable of his contributions being a steal and a quick pass to Mame Biram Diouf in the dying minutes of the game to set Stoke on the counter in a nearly unbelievable 5 on 2 situation.
But Diouf, who had bottled one chance early on in the game and scored later thanks to Hugo Lloris' calamitous streak staying on course, could have slid a pass and found 3 of his teammates or could have gone for glory himself. But he absorbed all that into a terrible failure of a pass that picked out one of the only two Tottenham defenders inside the area.
Earlier, Jack Butland who had pulled off a magnificent save to deny Son, was left perplexed as a curling ball from Christian Eriksen from a set-piece on the left flank went past a flustered Stoke defence and rattled the netting.
As for Tottenham, the pundits have been pondering over what ultimately curtails this unit that packs plenty of swagger, grit and flair from being one of the very best in the business. And pardon me if this sounds a bit hyperbolic but part of that problem lies between the sticks at the back- Hugo Lloris.
Hugo Lloris is a remarkable goalkeeper but his direly inconsistent showings in front of goal which has cost Tottenham dearly this season could lead to Mauricio Pochettino looking for a guardian who can keep it at a level that's not leaky at its best.
#3 Danny Welbeck, Marko Arnautovic, Chicharito and Chelsea's European heartbreak
Danny boy has been often berated by the fans for not turning up and being a gamechanger. In fact, his Arsenal career has been all about the roundhouse kicks and faceplants. And against a struggling Southampton side, he kept it real. But he did it in the best way possible.
After setting up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with a delightful backheel flick, Danny Welbeck drove into the edge of the area and leathered the ball into the net thanks to a small deflection that took the ball away from.Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.
Then he went on to miss a chance from under the goalpost, yes you read that right. But he followed it up with a header at the far-post off an Alex Iwobi cross that won the game for the Gunners.
Meanwhile, Marko Arnautovic was omnipresent at Stamford Bridge, battling inside the attacking third and tracking back to put his size to use as he is gradually coming to embrace his life as the lone man up front for David Moyes's side.
He brilliantly set up Chicharito for the equalizer as West Ham stomped on the remnants of hope that lingered in Stamford Bridge regarding Champions League qualification,
Chelsea are now 10 points off the 4th place and it remains to be seen if Antonio Conte will stay beyond the season. It looks highly unlikely and it is disheartening to see this Chelsea side having to go through yet another rebuilding phase. It is sinusoidal this Chelsea unit. Champions one season, ordinary in the next.
#2 Manchester City's infallibility stripped off
In the first 45 minutes of the Manchester derby at Etihad, City played United out of Manchester. Surely, 5 goals should have gone in. But Raheem Sterling, make no mistakes, did everything right on the night except for putting the finishing touches on all the glorious chances he laboured to the end of.
Without Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus in the first half, City still looked like their ominous, dominant self. And if the first goal by Vincent Kompany got them within touching distance, with Ilkay Gundogan's exquisite finish, they surely uncorked the champagne bottles.
But here's the kicker. Manchester City felt like champions only until Manchester United let them feel that way. In the second half, a Manchester United side, unshackled and playing for pride, perforated the City defence which had been made to look vulnerable a couple of times by Liverpool.
Just like Liverpool did in midweek in Europe against Pep's side, Manchester United stole the show in a frame of about 15 minutes where they put 3 scintillating goals past Ederson to cap off one of the most riveting comebacks of the season.
If only Manchester City were not afforded the sort of respect they warranted after their early-season dominance and if only teams were daring enough to push them to the ropes, we'd have had a whole different top 4 dynamic in the Premier League.
Well, it's not to be for this season but it needn't be so in the next...
#1 Time for Manchester United to wake up in the morning feeling fine
It was as fanciable as a phoenix taking flight from the ashes because that's exactly what Manchester United were savagely reduced to in the first half by a rampant Manchester City. Outplayed and outclassed, the scoreline that read 2-0 at halftime only flattered Jose's men.
It was all set to be the kind of utterly humiliating and embarrassing loss, that too against their cross-city rivals, that would lead to the blame games and ultimately to the disintegration of a team. But boy did they turn that around or what?
Asked by Jose Mourinho to not become the clowns who'll have to watch City lift the title, Manchester United started the second half by committing more bodies forward and forcing the issue. Paul Pogba was driving into tackles, winning the loose ball, setting the game rolling in midfield.
Alexis Sanchez came up with a vintage performance where he played a great part in all the three goals. The kind of performance which shows why United are paying him the big bucks. To put things into perspective, it was Ander Herrera who assisted Paul Pogba for the first goal as he chested the ball into the Frenchman's path from inside the area. From inside the area! How often have you seen that from this Manchester United side?
Pogba once again galloped into the box, about 90 seconds later, as Sanchez keeps demanding of him, and finished off with a spectacular header to level things.
And the narrative carried on poetically, as Smalling, guilty party for the first goal, sidefooted home from an Alexis Sanchez set-piece and wheeled away in celebration of the most audacious of comebacks.
And a Manchester United win just doesn't sit right if David de Gea did not show why he is the best in the business, right? He criminally denied Sergio Aguero, the master of late goals, from 6 yards out as he flung himself to his left to tip the ball over the crossbar.
It is perhaps the most defining 45 minutes Manchester United have played all season. It could have so easily have been their unravelling. But they dug deep and sucker punched Pep's juggernaut and became the first team to defeat them at Etihad in almost 2 years!
It is the kind of game that instils belief in the dressing room. It is also the kind of victory that ties the players together in the spirit of shared adventure. And there was a solid response from their most maligned players who showed the world what a force of nature they become when they decide to play to each other's strengths.
But in the grand scheme of things, what matters the most is that Jose Mourinho has not lost the dressing room as he had in Chelsea and in Real Madrid prior to that as the players kept reiterating that it was the half-time team talk that led them to pull off one of the best upsets in recent times.
To come up with that roarer of a performance in the second half, you gotta be clear in your head about who you are doing it for. And that's exactly why this could potentially be the beginning of great things for Jose Mourinho's Red Army.
