Lucy Bronze’s late head helped to win a sixth successive WSL title for Chelsea Women, beating Man Utd Women 1-0 at Leigh Sports Village.
The Blues had the opportunity to conclude the league after Arsenal was beaten 5-2 by Aston Villa earlier Wednesday, knowing that a point would be sufficient.
Marc Skinner’s team pushed Chelsea all along in an energetic and intense game, but the bronze finally pierced as it watched the corner of Sandy Baltimore at home to seal the title for her team with two games to play.
This is only the tenth WSL goal, Phallon Tullis-Joyce and the defense of the UTD man conceded this season, and that could have been more if he had not been for their fit goal.
His best time came at the start of the second half, denying Erin Cuthbert, Aggie Beever-Jones and Johanna Rytting Kanerney in fast succession.
The defeat is a blow for the hopes of the UTD man in women’s football in the Champions League next season, which are still two points behind Arsenal with the Gunners and the local rivals of Manchester City to play.
They should probably have left with at least one point too. Melvine Malard approached late in the first half, clinging to a poor pass from Chelsea, but was refused by Naomi Girma and Hannah Hampton. Grace Clinton then sent the follow -up on the bar.
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Chelsea obtained her sixth successive WSL title
Malard also attracted a nice backup of Hampton a few minutes after the break, but Man Utd could not find a way after any WSL champions.
Chelsea has now won the title for a sixth consecutive season and he marked the first WSL victory of Sonia Bompastor in his first season in charge. She stays on the right track for a triple domestic, having already won the League Cup earlier this year.
The Blues will again face Man Utd in the FA Cup female final on May 18 in Wembley while they seek to conclude another trophy against current holders.
Bompastor: The title victory this evening is a bit unreal
Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor In Sky Sports:
“It’s a great success. It’s a bit unreal, but we did not expect that Arsenal drops points this evening, but being absent, being able to bounce back after the match on Sunday and be able to win against a large team is incredible.
“I told my team before the match, it’s a great opportunity for us to get closer to the title, even if I did not expect it to be real. I am so proud of my players, all the staff, the team and the club.
“Tonight was a team performance, we stayed together. We rebounded who showed the great character of this team.
“From the season, I did not expect that we were in this position and that I could achieve it with two games. I knew that we had worked hard to fight until the end.
“The biggest challenge may be my English? But this league is really competitive, so just so that we are in this position to be undefeated and to achieve what we have done is something very good.
“Not easy to come as a new manager, in a new country, to adapt to a new league. I learned a lot. But I have a large bunch of players and also a large staff. I am not the only one.”
Bronze: We want to stay undefeated now
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Lucy Bronze gives her reaction which obtains the winner against Manchester United who sealed a sixth consecutive title WSL for Chelsea.
Chelsea scorer Lucy Bronze In Sky Sports:
“We knew that a draw was also quite good. We wanted to be undefeated and keep a white sheet, but it is good to mark and obtain the victory.
“It is better to celebrate being champions when you win a match.
“The lucky thing for us this season is that we have been undefeated, so there have always been two things to do.
“Although we have won tonight, we know that we have two more games and we want to win these matches. We want to be undefeated all season.
“The right thing is that we can finish at home at Stamford Bridge and all fans can go down and celebrate the trophy’s victory.
“It is difficult to focus on so many competitions, as we have always said. We have done well to keep each other in each of them until the end.
“It was nice to come here and celebrate a victory, the title and pass the disappointment of the weekend.
“Next season, we can continue and improve much more that has not been to our best for the second half of the season.
“Sonia has succeeded so far, she wants much more from us and we can give it.”
Christensen: what work Bompastor did
Chelsea won the WSL title with a 1-0 victory at Man Utd
Sky Sports’ Izzy Christensen At Leigh Sports Village:
“This is what dreams are made for Sonia Bompastor, staff and new players, and existing players who have already done so.
“They don’t care where they do or how they do it, as long as they do.
“Man Utd was the best team this evening, but this objective and this bronze and team mentality that are recovering are a credit to the foundations that this team built.
“It’s such a big task and a big weight to transport [to win the WSL title again]But to already have two trophies is what you remember as a player.
“What a job that Bompastor did. Great players with an injury throughout the season, this depth, this support, these resources and they found their way to win it again.”
Hampton thank you villa for the victory of Arsenal
Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton In Sky Sports:
“It’s amazing, I don’t think I have enough words. I must say thank you to Villa for helping us at the start of the evening.
“I am so excited and happy to be in this team. We did everything we wanted, maybe not in the Champions League, but we fight until the end.
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Highlights of the Super League women’s match between Aston Villa and Arsenal.
“This is what we did here, we won the league with two games to do, so we are all ecstatic. Better believe that we are not going to release these games, we want to remain undefeated throughout the season.
“We knew that we had to answer in the right direction. This is probably not the way we wanted to get out of the Champions League.
“We knew that we could have waged a little more fight, but it is still next year to come.
“Right now, we can take advantage of it. We have them again in a few weeks, so it’s going to be a difficult game so to get the treble, but we’re going to give everything.”
