Last seasons champions Chelsea were at their first home match of the season back at regular ground Kingsmeadow for a sold out match vs. last seasons third place team Manchester City. Neither had any points on the sheet coming into this match, with both suffering (somewhat) shock defeats away to Aston Villa and Liverpool last week.
City’s defence looked a little shakey from the off, with Kerr almost scoring in the first minute but based on both teams first half performances the match could easily have ended in a draw (though probably not a goalless one). Chelsea had more and better chances – by 12 minutes in they could have been 2-0 up if not for some strange apparent shyness in front of goal from Kerr and Kirby. They also looked a little uncertain at times at the back: Hayes formed a backline made of Eriksson, Buchanan, Bright and Mjelde and some miscommunication between Buchanan and Eriksson saw City get some joy through the middle with Deyna Castellanos and Bunny Shaw in the first half. Eriksson and Mjelde did do well to contain City wingers Hemp and Kelly and neither really seemed be able to create too much down the wings. Chelsea conceded a total of nine corners across the match and will have been thankful for the presence of Millie Bright in the box to defend them.
For their part Chelsea found a lot of joy down their left hand side, where City’s young Dutch defender Kerstin Casparij matched up against Guro Reiten, who was a real star for Chelsea last season. Casparij did well in her 1 on 1 duels but ultimately didn’t have enough support from her centre-back Steph Houghton, who didn’t look at all comfortable this match. On that left side was where the chance was created for Chelsea’s first goal – a long ball from Buchanan to Reiten and some nice work from Fleming getting past Houghton led to Kirby sliding the ball in the back of the net to put Chelsea in front shortly before half time.
The second half saw Chelsea slowly start to gain dominance until a second goal from them felt relatively inevitable, with City pressing less and creating fewer chances. However the second goal for Chelsea came from a handball-induced converted penalty by Maren Mjelde – now making Chelsea’s goal count for the season so far 2/3rds from penalties. This seems a bizarre stat for a team so stacked with attacking talent. Hayes in press said she felt this match felt like the first match of the season, with the team still finding their momentum. She said she felt they’d overplayed in the first half and played themselves into trouble a little bit, but the second half was much better. She praised her experienced wingbacks in Eriksson and Mjelde for quietening Kelly and Hemp, and Buchanan for a really good and clever fight against Shaw, in which she didn’t take on Shaw for the first ball but tried (and succeeded) in getting the second. City certainly looked frustrated in the second half, and you could argue they deserved at least a goal from this match – but Chelsea managed the game well and in the end kept a clean sheet. For his part Gareth Taylor disputed some of the officiating and highlighted the fact he’s brought in a lot of new players this season who are needing time to adjust – this outing, an improved from last week, should give them something to build on.
Two players on the pitch really stood out – Bunny Shaw, who had such a physical presence and press on the ball and set up the majority of chances for City, with City ending up with more shots (15 to 11) and more shots on target (5 to 2) overall in the match. The other player that was a joy to watch was Lauren James for Chelsea. The Lauren James hype is real – the ball seems to be glued to her feet as she shields it with her body in a way that’s reminiscent of Kim Little, her close control is outstanding and she’s very quick with her feet. Chelsea (and England) have a really great player in her.
Overall, a really interesting match-up – maybe not the best for fantasy points though. I’d not rely on City defenders for clean sheet points this season and I’d maybe hold off on stacking my attacking line with Chelsea players just while they get their ducks in a row.