Chelsea have recorded their first-ever Barclays FA Women’s Super League victory over Manchester City at The Academy Stadium with Emma Hayes’ side cruising to a 4-0 success this afternoon.
Jessie Fleming, Sam Kerr, Fran Kirby and Madga Eriksson scored the goals for The Blues as injury-hit Manchester City’s home woes continued.
Disaster struck for the hosts inside two minutes when goalkeeper Karima Benameur Taieb’s poor distribution allowed Fleming to score a simple opening goal.
To their credit, Manchester City got themselves together after that goal and they were unlucky not to be level when Caroline Weir was denied by a superb save from visiting keeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
Despite leading 1-0, Chelsea were not performing all that well but Manchester City struggled to create opportunities to test Berger. Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp went close but both efforts were directed straight at the German keeper while the latter will have been disappointed not to have won a penalty kick for her side with her next goalmouth involvement, beating Berger in a race for the ball and getting clattered in the process.
Chelsea had barely troubled the Manchester City goal since scoring the opener but they found themselves 2-0 up going into the break thanks to a goal in the third minute of stoppage time. Kirby cut the ball back across the six-yard box for Kerr who had the time and space for a tap-in.
Matters went from bad to worse for Manchester City six minutes into the second half when Chelsea grabbed a third goal. Kirby looped the ball towards the far post and it struck the woodwork before bouncing into the net. The scoring didn’t end there. Four minutes later, captain Eriksson headed home from a corner kick to make it 4-0 to the visitors.
From there on in, it was pretty much a non-event. Manchester City struggled to pick themselves up off the floor while Chelsea could preserve energy for their UEFA Women’s Champions League tie in midweek. Hemp saw a shot saved by Berger but that was as close as either side went to adding to the scoreline.
Manchester City must now look to dust themselves down quickly for an FA Women’s Continental League Cup Manchester derby at the Leigh Sports Village on Wednesday while Chelsea will prepare to face Servette at Kingsmeadow on Thursday.
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