Chelsea secured their sixth consecutive Women’s Super League (WSL) title, and a record-extending eighth overall, with a hard-fought 1-0 victory away at Manchester United on Wednesday night. Lucy Bronze’s second-half header proved decisive at Leigh Sports Village.
The Blues went into the match knowing just a point would be enough to retain their crown after title rivals Arsenal suffered a shock 5-2 defeat at Aston Villa earlier in the evening.
Despite Manchester United creating chances, notably a double opportunity for Melvine Malard and Grace Clinton just before halftime which required sharp saves from Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, the game remained deadlocked.
United keeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce produced heroics herself in the second half with a brilliant triple save to deny Aggie Beever-Jones, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, and Erin Cuthbert in quick succession.
However, Chelsea found the breakthrough in the 74th minute when England international Lucy Bronze rose to meet Sandy Baltimore’s corner, heading the ball just inside the far post to spark jubilant celebrations.
“It’s a great achievement,” Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor told Sky Sports. “It feels a bit unreal… We bounced back and showed the great character the team has. This league is really competitive… We work really hard and we had the right mindset from the beginning of the season until now.”
The title caps a remarkable debut season for Bompastor, who took over from Emma Hayes last summer. Chelsea remain unbeaten in the WSL this season (17 wins, 3 draws) and now hold an unassailable nine-point lead over Arsenal with two games remaining.
“We knew before the game that Arsenal had got beat, so we knew what we needed, but we wanted to win, we want to go unbeaten all season,” said match-winner Bronze. Chelsea can now look forward to celebrating the title with their fans at Stamford Bridge as they aim to complete an invincible league campaign. Manchester United remain third in the table.
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