Man City beat Chelsea to tighten four-way WSL race

Manchester City blew the WSL title race wide open as they sank Chelsea 2-0 at the Academy Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The result means City leapfrogged their rivals to go second in the table, tied on points with leaders Manchester United. Over five thousand fans watched the game, just short of City’s record crowd at their home stadium.

The top four teams are now separated by just three points as the league title intensifies towards the business end of the season.

Flippa Angeldahl gave City the lead in the 20th minute with a wonderful, lofted effort before Lauren Hemp added a second just nine minutes later to secure the win for the hosts in what was a wonderful first half.

City keep title hopes alive

It was a must-win game for City as they aimed to keep their title hopes alive. The players appeared to respond to manager Gareth Taylor’s pre-match press conference where he mentioned, “we need to win this weekend, simple as that.”

City dominated the game right from the start as they pressed their opponents, forcing them into mistakes. In fairness, Chelsea were far from their best, missing Millie Bright in defense following an injury she picked up against Lyon in the Champions League in midweek.  

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes didn’t wait until halftime to ring on the changes, but despite changing personnel, the Blues hardly threatened the hosts, who were the better side on the day.

First win since 2017 over Chelsea

This was City’s first league win over Chelsea since 2017 and their fifth successive win on the trot as they continue their unbeaten run since September.

After the win, Taylor said, “We want to win the league. We’re not just looking at the Champions League. We’ve put ourselves in a position to win the league. If we win all of our games in the second half of the season, we win the league, it’s as simple as that.”

Chelsea, despite the defeat, are just a point behind in third place but have a game in hand.

Photo: IMAGO / PA Images