Chelsea reached the Women’s League Cup final for the fifth time in succession with a slender victory over Manchester City. Lauren James’ early goal was enough to see them set up a meeting with Arsenal on 31 March despite coming under significant pressure from their title rivals.
It was a dogged performance from Emma Hayes’ side that ended City’s scintillating run of 12 wins in all competitions and hopes of lifting the treble. The Chelsea manager praised her side’s “gutsy” performance as they reached yet another domestic final. “I felt like that was a Chelsea standard,” she said. “If you’re going to suffer without the ball, we had to make it difficult … I think the team as a whole deserve credit for just digging in. We weren’t at our best, but we know how to do this.”
Gareth Taylor named an unchanged lineup from Saturday’s win over Everton, a predictable occurrence with a set of players who have remained eye-catchingly consistent. Hayes made three changes, with Sjoeke Nüsken dropping into defence to replace the cup-tied Nathalie Björn while James returned from suspension and Melanie Leupolz came into the midfield.
James, the focal point of so many of Chelsea’s attacks, struck in the eighth minute. Breaking through the City defence, the 22-year-old ran on to Mayra Ramírez’s pass and slotted past the helpless Khiara Keating. It was a lead the visitors had desperately sought and having gained it they seemed content to let the hosts have possession. The frustration of the City players was clear to see as they struggled to break down Chelsea’s compact setup, managing just one shot on target in the first 45 minutes.
Hayes’s gameplan had played out perfectly as they went in ahead. The one blow, however, was the early substitution of Ramírez, with the striker forced off with what looked like a muscle issue. It is a position they can ill afford to suffer another loss in after Sam Kerr and Mia Fishel’s recent anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
It was inevitable that City would up the tempo and they dominated the second half as Khadija Shaw outmuscled various members of Chelsea’s backline on successive occasions. She was denied by a series of superb stops from Hannah Hampton, the last line of Chelsea’s creaking defence, who thwarted the WSL’s leading goalscorer twice before producing an impressive stop to keep out Lauren Hemp’s effort from point-blank range.
As the clock ran down, Taylor looked to his bench. As much as they threw at the Chelsea goal, however, they could not find an end product despite a late penalty shout.
It was far from Chelsea’s prettiest performance on Hayes’s watch but it mattered little. As the whistle blew, they celebrated a confidence-boosting victory and a place in the final, with hopes of a quadruple still very much alive.
