Chelsea beat London City Lionesses 2-0 thanks to goals from their Australian duo of Ellie Carpenter and Sam Kerr.
Stamford Bridge was the venue that saw Chelsea welcome London City Lionesses for the first time in the Barclays Women’s Super League [WSL]. Their only previous meeting? A 5-0 victory for the home side in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup in 2021.
In the first league game following the international break Chelsea made four changes from the side that beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in their last WSL fixture. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Niamh Charles, Alyssa Thompson and Wieke Kaptein dropped to the bench. In their place came Sjoeke Nüsken, Guro Reiten, Sandy Baltimore and Lucy Bronze with the latter making her first WSL start of the season after returning from injury. Naomi Girma was also fit enough to make the bench in a welcome boost for Sonia Bompastor’s charges.
London City Lionesses suffered heavy defeats in their first two matches against two of last season’s top three. Since then the newcomers have won three of their past four in the WSL. Chelsea represented a test at an opportune moment for the Lionesses. Jocelyn Prêcheur made no changes from the side that beat West Ham 1-0 last month in the WSL sticking rather than twisting with his side on good form. London City were boosted themselves by the return of Poppy Pattinson to a match day squad for the first time this season.
Both head coaches will be familiar with one another, they faced each other as head coaches of the two biggest clubs in French football in PSG and OL Lyonnes only a couple of years ago. The stars were out in force with Megan Rapinoe a special guest of Michelle Kang’s at Stamford Bridge.
The Line ups
CHE: Hampton; Carpenter, Bronze, Björn, Bright, Baltimore; Walsh, Nüsken, Cuthbert; Reiten, Aggie Beever-Jones
LCL: Lete; Imuran, Linari, Sangaré, Fernández; Kumagai, Geyoro, Asllani; Godfrey, Parris, Goodwin
The Action
Within the first few minutes London City began to struggle dealing with the Chelsea press. In under two minutes, Wassa Sangaré played the ball straight to Erin Cuthbert and with the goal begging Sangaré made up for her mistake with a goal saving block on the line from the Scot. London City were providing a threat of their own finding space on the break and in behind the Chelsea defence.
A magnificent move from Chelsea opened the scoring, playing the ball from back to front saw Reiten find Baltimore in space, running at the defence, Baltimore seemed to have overplayed it, pushed to the bye line. However a magnificent pick out found Ellie Carpenter who tapped in from point blank range to score her first Chelsea goal.
Chelsea were exploiting the overload on the far side with Baltimore over and over and London City were struggling to deal with it. Chelsea looked in the mood for goals and Bronze found the onrushing Nüsken crashing into the box but the German could not direct her header on target.
London City were always a threat on the break and as the match approached half time, Isobel Goodwin flashed a ball across the face of goal which found no one. Goodwin had a magnificent chance shortly after. After Grace Geyoro dispossessed Nüsken on the edge of the box the ball fell to Goodwin but the England under 23s international launched her effort over the bar. Elena Linari flashed a shot wide from a short corner shortly after as London City held their own against the champions going into half time.
Before the clock struck 55 minutes the home side had made three substitutions, shuffling the pack in the hope of fresh energy. London City continued to threaten into the second half, positive running from Freya Godfrey with an excellent touch of skill to get past Millie Bright. The youngster chose to pass rather than shoot which gave Chelsea a reprieve as her pass was poorly judged.
Beever-Jones came close to doubling the lead with just over twenty minutes to play. With London City struggling with the Chelsea press again, the ball found a way to the foot of Beever-Jones who Cruyff turned to create space but fired wide. The other English striker on the pitch Goodwin had a chance out of almost nothing clean through on goal Hampton reacted quickly to smother the ball. Goodwin spurned a late chance to level the scores fumbling her shot from just outside the six yard box. Rytting Kaneryd and Sam Kerr combined right after with a magnificent header from Sam Kerr setting the Swede clean through on goal but Kaneryd lofted her shot over.
Chelsea secured the three points with a bit of Sam Kerr magic, after Lette came for a lofted ball into the box, Pattinson miscontroled to Kerr. The Chelsea number 20 lobbed Lete to secure victory.
Chelsea Player Ratings
GK: Hannah Hampton – 7/10 – So good with her feet, made some passes today that would make Aitana Bonmatí blush. Alert off her line in dealing with any danger.
RWB: Ellie Carpenter – 8/10 – Showed wonderful offensive awareness to steal in for Chelsea’s opener. Electric in attack finding space in and around the London City backline.
RCB: Lucy Bronze – 7/10 – Covered for her fellow defenders well more than once, her return is a huge boost for Chelsea. Understanding with Carpenter looks extremely positive. Encouraging to see her complete the 90.
CB: Nathalie Björn – 7/10 – A quiet but assured performance from the Swede, the type we have come to expect from one of the most consistent performers in the league.
LCB: Millie Bright – 7/10 – Bright was at her usual, physical, imposing best. Almost scored the goal of the season with an ambitious but almost brilliant strike from outside the box. Freya Godrey skinned her in the second half but Bright was lucky that Godfrey couldn’t take advantage.
LWB: Sandy Baltimore – 7/10 – Made a wonderful run for the first goal with an excellent pick out to her opposite wing back in Ellie Carpenter. Her delivery into the box is exceptional. Subbed off at half time.
CM: Sjoeke Nüsken – 6/10 – The German demonstrated her excellent range of passing to wow the crowds at Stamford Bridge but was subbed early in the second half.
CM: Keira Walsh– 6/10 – Was perhaps lucky to avoid a booking after stepping on Geyoro’s foot late in the first half.
CM: Erin Cuthbert – 6/10 – Struggled a touch and on another day would have scored a couple of goals.
SS: Guro Reiten– 7/10 – Her range of passing was so impressive, in the first 20 minutes Reiten found Baltimore open with a cross field ball time and time again. Revels in that roaming second striker role.
ST: Aggie Beever Jones – 6/10 – Her play with her back to goal, facing her own goal has improved hugely. Surprisingly rusty today, a free-kick in a dangerous position was wasted by Beever-Jones in the second half.
SUBS
Niamh Charles – 46′ replaced Sandy Baltimore
Oriane Jean-François – 55′ replaced Sjoeke Nüsken
Joanna Rytting-Kaneryd – 55′ replaced Guro Reiten
Sam Kerr – 74′ replaced Ellie Carpenter
Wieke Kaptein – 85′ replaced Aggie Beever-Jones
London City Lionesses Player Ratings
GK: Elene Lete – 6/10 – Did not have as much to do as she might have expected, good with the ball at her feet.
RB: Jana Fernández – 7/10 – Made a great early sliding tackle to dispossess Nüsken. Was unlucky for the first goal but perhaps should still cut out Baltimore’s pass. Won the most duels of anyone on the pitch and made the most key passes.
RCB: Wassa Sangaré – 8/10 – Atoned for a huge mistake instantly blocking a certain goal on the line. Tracked Beever-Jones’ tricky runs well throughout. A little over exuberant in her physicality at times and was booked in the second half, making her job just that little bit harder.
LCB: Elena Linari – 7/10 – Beginning to form a great partnership with Sangaré for her side.
LB: Rofiat Imuran – 7/10 – The Nigerian made some excellent driving runs into midfield passing at just the right point having drawn pressure and creating space. Made a couple of great tackles in the second half. Forced off with injury after an impressive showing.
DM: Saki Kumagai – 6/10 – Did not have a huge influence on the game but played her part in midfield.
CM: Grace Geyoro – 7/10 – Hustled and harried against the team she looked set to join for so many years.
AM: Kosovare Asllani – 6/10 – Always proving a nuisance in advanced areas for Chelsea to deal with.
RW: Freya Godfrey – 6/10 – Looked lively in attack for London City but would have been hoping to be more effective in front of goal.
LW: Nikita Parris – 6/10 – Struggled to get involved as Carpenter and Bronze flourished on her side of the pitch.
ST: Isobel Goodwin – 6/10 – Caused a physical challenge for the Chelsea defence. Lacked composure in front of goal when presented with a golden opportunity to level the scores. Was far more involved in this match than she was against Arsenal or United early in the season.
SUBS
Sanni Franssi 66′ replaced Freya Godfrey
Julia Roddar 77′ replaced Nikita Parris
Poppy Pattinson 77′ replaced Grace Geyoro
Lotta Lindström 80′ replaced Rofiat Imuran
