Key events
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Manchester City (Baltimore, 40+4 mins)
Finally a shot on target, and there’s no stopping it! Baltimore gets the ball on the right of the area, Knaak doesn’t close her down, and she boshes a left-footer into the top, near cornner!
45+4 mins: Chelsea win the ball in the City defensive third but then completely waste it, and City get the chance to clear.
45+2 mins: A full two minutes passes between Shaw conceding a free-kick and Chelsea getting around to taking it. It’s lifted into the area, headed across goal, and collected by Yamashita.
45+1 mins: Into stoppage time, and there’s going to be about five minutes of it.
43 mins: It looks like Lauren Hemp is going to be able to continue, though she’s feeling the right side of her neck a little gingerly.
42 mins: The physios are back on, this time City’s, after Hemp landed awkwardly and stayed down.
40 mins: Chance! It feels like it’s been a while since the last one, after the first quarter-hour or so was basically non-stop attacking. Anyway, Thompson crosses, and Beever-Jones meets it in the middle, but the ball’s a bit behind her, she has to improvise a goalwards volley and she can’t quite get it on target.
38 mins: Manchester United have, meanwhile, taken a 2-0 lead against Crystal Palace, thanks to Elisabeth Terland’s tidy finish.
36 mins: And Chelsea are forced into a second first-half substitution, with Aggie Beevor-Jones comes on for the injured Malard.
35 mins: Malard is now down and receiving treatment from Chelsea’s physios.
33 mins: Match stats so far: City have had 51% of possession, are 6-5 up on touches in the opposition box, the teams have had two shots each and none on target, and City have had 181 shots to Chelsea’s 175. In short, nothing between them.
31 mins: Chelsea escape, get down the other end and win a corner, which is floated into the area and looks to be curling in before Shaw gets the top of her head to it and diverts it wide!
29 mins: Most of the Chelsea team have spent most of the last few minutes within 30 yards of their own goal, but City haven’t been able to convert their possession into a chance.
26 mins: McCabe gives the ball away, and a couple of quick passes give Wamser a shooting chance from maybe 25 yards, but she can’t get it on target.
24 mins: So close! A fine pass finds Baltimore on the Chelsea left, and her low cross is just too far in front of Malard for her to turn it in!
21 mins: Chances for Chelsea! Thompson gets down the left but her Malard is being well marshalled by Knaak and her cross runs across the goalmouth to Carpenter, whose her cross is well cleared by Knaak.
18 mins: Chelsea have the ball for a while, which is something that didn’t really happen in an opening 10 minutes dominated by the visitors.
15 mins: A lovely pass releases Carpeneter down the Chelsea right, but once she gets to the edge of the area, and despite having three teammates offering options, she scuffs a feeble shot that rolls wide.
14 mins: A booking for Chelsea’s Lexi Potter, for fouling Coffey.
12 mins: Actually the ball came off Rose rather than Beney. Anyway, and more importantly, Chelsea have been forced to make a change in their defence with Buchanan being forced off, presumably through injury, and Buurman coming on.
10 mins: Another deflection nearly leads to a goal! Malard takes on Beney and runs into the area before sending in a cross the deflects off Beney and suddenly it’s heading in at the near post, but Yamashita reacts well, changes direction and makes the save.
9 mins: City are still pushing, and though McCabe has just denied Fujino another chance in doing so she so nearly deflected the ball into her own net! In the end it bounces just wide of the far post.
8 mins: And another chance for Fujino! The ball cannons off a defender and into her path, allowing her to run clear and into the area, but she can’t find the net!
6 mins: Meanwhile the half-time whistle has sounded at the Progress with Unity Stadium, with Manchester United still 1-0 up against Crystal Palace.
5 mins: Then Chelsea go down the other end and Alyssa Thompson has an excellent chance to shoot from just outside the area, but it’s a poor effort and goes behind for a goal kick.
4 mins: Chance! Shaw, for the second time already, gets into space on the left of the area, and pulls back to Aoba Fujino, who shoots just wide!
2 mins: Buchanan lingers on the ball really unnecessarily inside her own penalty area, allowing Shaw to believe she can steal it, but then she toepokes it to a teammate just in time.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! Chelsea get the ball rolling!
Almost gametime, as the referee checks her watch. And then her other watch.
Liquidator rings out at Stamford Bridge as the two teams emerge!
The two coaches have a little chat with the BBC. Here’s some of Sonia Bompastor:
It’s the teams who are right now close to each other at the top of the table. We’re focused on winning the game. It’s still too early to focus on where we will be at the end of the season.
And a bit of City’s Andree Jeglertz:
Of course there’s some speed in their attacking phase. They also have a central midfielder who is dominating a lot of games. Both teams are playing a lot man-to-man in the defending phase, so you need to escape from that.
After just over half an hour, Manchester United have had 79% of possession, 90% of the 10 shots, 100% of the two shots on target, and are generally in complete control.
Before the United game Maya Le Tissier was given a framed shirt to mark her 150th appearance for the club. About 20 minutes later she had something else to celebrate.
Manchester United are dominating so far, and Maya Le Tissier has now put them 1-0 up with an excellent shot from 20 yards or so that dips into the corner of the net.
Essential pre-match reading: here’s Suzanne Wrack’s preview of Chelsea v Manchester City:
There was a time when the games between the top three – traditionally Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal – were title-deciders. Where every point taken off a title rival was key. Such was the gap in investment and quality between those teams and the rest of the Women’s Super League, it was extremely rare that points would be dropped to teams outside that elite clique.
But when Chelsea welcome the title holders and current league leaders to Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunchtime the three points isn’t the most important takeaway. Instead, based on the state of play, it’s the momentum, confidence, belief and bragging rights that are critical.
Much more here:
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s home game against Crystal Palace is about to start. Victory would take United to within sniffing distance of London City Lionesses, currently third, while three points for Palace would propel them into the top half of the table.
The teams!
Team news has landed, and here are the lineups:
Chelsea Women: Hampton, Bronze, Buchanan, McCabe, Carpenter, Walsh, Potter, Thompson, Kaptein, Malard, Baltimore. Subs: Peng, Buurman, Nusken, Cuthbert, Bjorn, Las, Hamano, Brown, Beever-Jones.
Man City Women: Yamashita, Beney, Rose, Knaak, Wamser, Coffey, Hasegawa, Fowler, Fujino, Hemp, Shaw. Subs: Cumings, Shimizu, Clinton, Mead, Miedema, Casparij, Blindkilde, Lohmann, Prior.
Referee: Phoebe Cross.
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Preamble
Hello world! So, it’s time. First against second, the club that won the league last season against the club that won the previous six in a row, and a game with the potential to define – and even decide – this season’s title race. Manchester City took over at the top of the table last week, when Lucy Bronze’s own-goal saw Chelsea drop two points – Everton managing to end a game in which they had 35% of possession, two touches in the opposition box (to Chelsea’s 55) and not even one single shot on target with a 1-1 draw – but there are only those two points between them, Chelsea have the better goal difference, and with the nearest challenger four points further back it seems likely, if not quite inevitable, that this season’s champions are playing in this game. There’s a long way to go, of course, but if City were to win, and stretch their lead to five points, it would take some overhauling.
The really good news if this match does live up to expectations is that we won’t have to wait long for a second helping – there are only three rounds of WSL fixtures between this game and the return fixture at the Joie Stadium in January.
Here’s the Press Association’s preview of this game, and the WSL weekend:
Sonia Bompastor knows Chelsea will need to be “clinical” in their Women’s Super League clash with Manchester City.
Saturday’s meeting between the top two takes place at Stamford Bridge and City enter the game as leaders having beaten West Ham 5-0 last weekend.
Three points allowed City to move top after Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by Everton and the Blues endured further frustration this week with a goalless draw against Hacken in the Champions League.
Chelsea dominated in Gothenburg but could not find the net and Bompastor admitted their last two games have been “frustrating”.
She said: “It’s a good balance to have, to be able not to concede but also to be able to score.
“I think the two last results have been frustrating for us so it’s good to see from the players’ reaction but also the staff reaction.
“We have hunger going into the game tomorrow because I think at the end probably the Everton game was a game where we didn’t produce much on the pitch in terms of the attacking aspects.
“Against Hacken, I think we were dominant in the game. So we need to keep working, I’m convinced tomorrow we’ll create opportunities and we will have to be clinical for sure. It’s an important game.”
Only two points separate the teams and City boss Andree Jeglertz is looking forward to the occasion.
He said: “I think these games are very special for everybody involved. We are really looking forward to an exciting day.”
Jeglertz is hopeful that Niamh Charles, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema will be available.
“All three of them actually were in the session (on Thursday) and I hope they will be available for Saturday,” Jeglertz added.
“It looks good. We had a day off (on Wednesday) and (on Thursday) everybody is back, a good session, full of energy. I feel we are in a good place.”
Saturday also sees Manchester United face Crystal Palace and Brighton host Liverpool, while fourth-placed Tottenham are aiming to build on back-to-back league wins when they come up against Everton.
On Sunday, Aston Villa take on local rivals Birmingham and West Ham meet Charlton, who are yet to win a point this term.
Third-placed London City Lionesses are also in action against Arsenal, with six points separating the two teams.
