In the end, a brawl broke out, Sergio Aguero made an awful tackle on David Luiz and Chelsea had the last laugh.
They are just some of the talking points from a whirlwind match between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Etihad as the London side won 3-1 away as all hell broke loose in stoppage time.
Off The Ball's Kevin Kilbane was watching on and noted the passion and intensity shown by both sides.
"It's probably the best game over the last four or five years in the Premier League for the tension that was in the game, the little bit of spark that was in the game, the bit of anger as well. There was so much in that game to admire and it was a throw-back to probably the United-Arsenal games from 10-12 years ago," said the former Ireland international.
"Even the melee at the end when it all kicked off, we all want to see passion. They'll all be fined but is that not what you want to see, that little bit of aggression in the game? I want to see that. I want to see a game like this and the quality of football was excellent as well."
Listen to Kevin's post-match thoughts, starting with what Fabregas is like to come up against:
While Kevin felt Sergio Aguero's late tackle on David Luiz was "out of line", he did feel that the Chelsea defender should have been sent off for a challenge on Aguero in the first half.
"It was a professional foul. He was through on goal," he said.
Kevin also picked out Diego Costa's centre-forward performance for praise as the Chelsea man scored the equaliser.
"He relishes these battles. I think he's getting better and better with his back to goal as well. His hold up play is getting better," he said.
"How physical he is and how he likes defenders coming up against him so he can feel them, when he's in those tight situations, his ability to manoeuvre out of those situations and free team-mates up, it's as good a centre-forward performance as you're going to see and he's well on course to be Player of the Year this year."
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