WSL: Man City 0-4 Chelsea: Clinical Champions Pile Pressure On City

Chelsea won 4-0 against Manchester City, beating them at the Academy Stadium for the first time in the WSL and closing the gap on leaders Arsenal to just a single point at the top of the table.

It was a clinical and ruthless performance from the reigning champions, who were 2-0 up at half-time despite not creating much in the way of chances in the first half.

Chelsea were gifted their opener little more a minute in when Jessie Fleming intercepted a loose pass from City goalkeeper Karima Taieb on the edge of the penalty area and slotted the ball into an empty net. Sam Kerr later made it two in first-half stoppage time with a close-range finish.

In between, City were the better team. They had more meaningful possession, looked more likely to score and were generally superior. Ann-Katrin Berger made an outstanding one-on-one save to deny Caroline Weir and also stopped a header from Alex Greenwood.

City could, and perhaps should, even have had a penalty when Berger upended Lauren Hemp.

But trailing by two, the hosts were always going to be fighting an uphill battle in the second half and looked increasingly dejected as the game got further away from them.

Fran Kirby got Chelsea’s third when she looped one into the far corner after the Blues had kept the ball alive in the City penalty area. The fourth came from a corner and it was an easy header for Magdalena Eriksson, who got to the ball ahead of the weak Taieb.

The result means that City have lost all three WSL home games so far this season, pushing them into the bottom half of the table and piling the pressure on manager Gareth Taylor.

Source: 90 Min