It feels like just yesterday the Chelsea women and Manchester City women were gearing up for an incredible run of four consecutive matchups Against One another. Chelsea captured the first one in the subway League Cup final and came away with their first trophy of the season. city where the better side on that day but Chelsea came away Victorious.
just a few days later, City came out on top in a more dominant than the score line shows victory at their home stadium in the first leg of the Women's Champions League Quarter finals. that Chelsea loss ended a lengthy unbeaten run that stretched back to the end of the 2023-24 season and had some questioning in if the Blues were going to be snake-bitten in Europe again.
Chelsea had a chance for some Redemption and the opportunity to recapture momentum in this matchup with a crucial WSL match this weekend. coming into the match, Chelsea were five points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand and a victory could help secure a league title.
City once again looked like the better side and on 32 minutes, took the lead through Brasiizan star Kerolin who danced around the Chelsea box and slotted home a brilliant finish past Hannah Hampton. It was a well deserved lead for the Sky Blues and they would go in to the half holding the advantage.
Five minutes into the second half, Chelsea would strike back with a brilliant equalizer by Aggie Beever-Jones. Most of the hard work was done by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd but Beever-Jones was clinical with her well-placed finish past Khiara Keating in the City goal.
The rest of the match played out with Chelsea relentlessly attacking and City dropping deeper and deeper and Keating was called on a few times to keep things level. Eventually the dam would break and Chelsea would take the decisive lead two minutes into stoppage time.
Ashley Lawrence drove deep into the edge of the City attack and after shaking the defender out of her boots, crossed it perfectly into the path of Erin Cuthbert who flew past her marker and headed it home. It was the late winner that Chelsea deserved for their pressure and it accomplished two things.
The first is that it gives them an 8-point lead at the top of the WSL table with 5 matches to go and 3 of those at home. The other, and perhaps just as importantly, gives them back the psychological edge over City who were riding high off their win in the Champions League.
Chelsea will be raring to go from kickoff and City will be feeling the pressure in trying to hold on to a two-goal lead in front of a hostile crowd. The Blues are back to being “mentality monsters” and they will look to re-earn that title once again in Thursday’s crucial Champions League fixture.