Champions Chelsea beat title rivals Manchester City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to move above them into top spot in the Women’s Super League and keep up their perfect start to the season.
Sonia Bompastor, the successor to Emma Hayes as Chelsea boss, has become the first coach in WSL history to win their first seven games in the competition thanks to second-half goals from Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten just four minutes apart.
Chelsea needed the individual brilliance of Ramirez to unlock the game, billed by some as a title decider in the build-up, as the striker shrugged off City defender Alanna Kennedy before firing into the far corner after carrying the ball from halfway.
Reiten then delivered a pinpoint effort from the edge of the box to deliver the killer blow. City struggled to keep up with Chelsea as the game wore on and could have easily conceded a third.
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Chelsea forward Mayra Ramirez scored a sensational solo strike to give them the lead
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Chelsea forward Mayra Ramirez scored a sensational solo strike to give them the lead
City’s Khadija Shaw, the WSL’s top scorer, failed to punish two misplaced Chelsea passes in the first half, pulling her shot wide initially before putting too much on a pass when playing in Jil Roord.
Chelsea, victors in all seven of their WSL games at Stamford Bridge, spent last season chasing City and Arsenal for the title, but this crucial win leaves them two points clear with a game in hand and in full control.
Cuthbert: A lot of similarities with Bompastor and Hayes
Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert, player of the match against City, told Sky Sports that their perfect start to the season under Bompastor is partly down to the fine work of her predecessor Hayes.
Hayes spent a trophy-laden 12 years at Chelsea, winning the league seven times, five of those coming in her final five seasons consecutively before leaving to become head coach of USA Women.
“I see a lot of similarities between Emma Hayes and Sonia Bompastor,” Cuthbert said after the game.
“They are both winners and they don’t care how the job gets done as long as it’s done. Emma left a great foundation for Sonia to build on.
“All pre-season and so far in the season we’ve been working on what Sonia wants to do. She doesn’t mind if it is possession or chess – she would like to have the ball but – it does not matter as long as we are limiting the opposition and have great players that can hurt them.
“We saw tonight we had countless opportunities on the transition.”
