Chelsea shake off fatigue against Man Utd to extend winning run

Chelsea had to overcome fatigue, and survive a late scare, to beat Manchester United 1-0 in the Women's Super League on Sunday.

Guru Reiten's 17th-minute penalty proved decisive at Kingsmeadow in a rearranged fixture that was postponed earlier in the campaign due to Chelsea's Champions League exploits.

United came close to ending Sonia Bompastor's remarkable winning run and keeping their unbeaten start going when Melvine Malard's effort clattered the crossbar, but Chelsea escaped unscathed to move five points clear of Manchester City at the top.

The Blues are just the second team in WSL history to win their first eight games of a season, after Arsenal in 2018-19.

And Bompastor was particularly pleased with how her team, who mustered 2.1 expected goals (xG) to United's 0.2, shrugged off the tiredness to get the job done.

"I think it was a tough game today, we were expecting that," Bompastor told the media, as reported by the Press Association.

"United do not concede a lot of goals so we knew they were coming with a good defensive organisation, and we had to have a really good game with the ball.

"Especially with the wind today, it was difficult for us to build and to play more, so I am just a bit disappointed at the fact we couldn't play more.

"Sometimes the most important thing is to get the three points, especially because we have been in a run playing five games in two weeks. I think the players are a little bit fatigued as well."

Chelsea have now won 11 consecutive WSL matches, which is their longest-ever winning run in the competition. The last team to have a longer winning run in the competition were Man City last season between November and April (14 in a row).

Maika Hamano and Sjoeke Nusken had early opportunities for the Blues, before Mayra Ramirez was brought down by United's Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who was unable to keep out Reiten's composed spot-kick.

Reiten has now netted six goals in her eight WSL appearances this term.

Johanna Rytting Kaneryd wasted a good chance to put Chelsea further in front, when she elected to shoot rather than pass and her effort was blocked by Maya Le Tissier.

That profligacy might have proved costly in stoppage time, but the woodwork came to Chelsea's rescue after Malard got a shot off following a neat bit of skill to evade Millie Bright.

"Chelsea are the best team in the country, they're the champions for a reason. We said we would give everything from the off and the players have given everything," said United boss Marc Skinner, who was without injured striker Elisabeth Terland.

"Both teams had to play the conditions, but the pride I feel for the team and their commitment to what we're doing, and know we can do, I'm proud of their performance. For us it was about being calculated and always opening up more in the second half, we changed shape in the last 15 minutes to really give an attacking threat.

"We opened up, Chelsea took a few more opportunities. You have to balance the game, you go toe-to-toe with Chelsea and they probably win against most teams."