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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Suzanne Wrack at Kingsmeadow

Kirby kickstarts Chelsea’s WSL title defence with Manchester City win

Chelsea Manchester City Fran Kirby Maren Mjelde Sam Kerr Steph Houghton Lauren James Arsenal Aston Villa Liverpool
Fran Kirby celebrates after opening the scoring for Chelsea three minutes before the break.
Fran Kirby celebrates after opening the scoring for Chelsea three minutes before the break. Photograph: Harriet Lander/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

Chelsea kickstarted their title defence with a comfortable but not altogether convincing 2-0 win to heap pressure on the Manchester City manager, Gareth Taylor.

It is rare that there is much riding on the second game of the season, but with both Chelsea and City having endured shock defeats on the first weekend, against the newly promoted Liverpool and Aston Villa respectively, suddenly this result mattered more.

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