It was fitting, somewhat, that former United starlet Lauren James scored Chelsea’s crucial second goal in front of a joint-record 6,186 home crowd. James was the talisman of a top-flight United side after a rebuild in 2018, but spent much of last season on the Chelsea bench, with Emma Hayes saying she was not ready for a first-team place. James’ goal came four minutes after Sam Kerr put the first goal past Mary Earps in the league this season. Alessia Russo’s strike helped bring United back to life, but they couldn’t find an equalizer and Erin Cuthbert’s blocked strike in added time killed things off. Praising James, Chelsea managing director Paul Green, who revealed Hayes would return for the team’s game against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge after the international break, said: “We’ve got a hell of a player on our hands and we’ve just got to let’s continue to develop it in the right way”. James said: “It was sweet [scoring against my former club] … Sometimes the fans have booed me here. But I love Chelsea and I try to do the best for them.” United manager Marc Skinner said before kick-off: “The great thing about tonight is that we can cause them as many problems as they cause us.” That might have sounded fantastic given that United are yet to beat Chelsea, home or away, since winning promotion to the WSL in 2019. Instead, United have lost five and drawn once, with that game last season to end with a 6-1 loss, but his team is a much more beast this season. In bitter cold and rain at Leigh Sports Village, where cars queued, barely moving, until kick-off to try and squeeze into the car parks surrounding the isolated ground, it was a hard-fought first half, with United on top . possession (53%) and the sides each have a shot on goal. Chelsea could feel aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty, with Maia Le Tissier going down on the knee of Guro Raiten in the box, narrowly missing the ball. “There was nothing really to it in the first half,” Skinner said. “In the second half I felt we were overtaken by lapses in concentration and their speed of thought was a bit quicker than ours, especially at the back. We talked about their movement and we have to be better with it.” Alessia Russo scores for Manchester United after being two goals down against Chelsea in the second half. Photo: Richard Sellers/PA On the hour mark came the first shot on target of the second half, and resulted in Chelsea taking the lead. The usually solid Millie Turner gifted possession to Sophie Ingle and the midfielder found Kerr, who slotted into the bottom corner. The second quickly followed. Kerr, this time the provider, collected a ball over the top and raced clear down the left before stopping James in power, the 21-year-old sliding to her knees to celebrate in front of the United Barmy Army she so adored in red for three years. Subscribe to Moving the Goalposts Informative, passionate, entertaining. Subscribe now to our weekly roundup of women’s football. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. United were shaken and the away side stepped up, with Ryten smashing an effort off the post. The response came very much against the flow of the game, but it sent the temporarily silent home crowd roaring into life. This time it was a Chelsea mistake. Erin Cuthbert laid the ball off to Ella Toon and the United forward released Rousseau, who coolly finished past Anne-Kathrin Berger. Quick guide
WSL Summary
projection Steph Catley scored directly from Jonas Eidevall’s corner Arsenal made it six wins out of six in the WSL against the bottom Leicester, with Frida Maanum, Caitlin Foord and Beth Mead also finding the back of the net. Rachel Daly’s second half penalty is over Aston VillaThree defeats in the game and he’s gone Liverpool languishing third bottom with just three points. Danielle Carter struck out twice during the inning Brighton5-4 win at West Ham. The Seagulls led 3-1 at the break and 5-2 with 20 minutes to play only for a late brace from Viviane Asseyi to level the game, but they held on and came off the bottom with their first points. of the season. And reading Skipper Emma Mukandi endured a miserable afternoon, scoring two own goals against the visitors City of Manchester before seventh in six championship races Bunny Shaw completed the points. Thanks for your response. United regained their composure and were threatening but were unable to breach Chelsea’s backline again and Cuthbert atoned for her mistake by sending a deflected effort past Earps. United drop to third, three points behind Chelsea, who have played a game more, while Arsenal went top after a 4-0 defeat at Leicester City.
