Sonia Bompastor's unbeaten start to life as Chelsea boss continued as they beat title rivals Manchester City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge thanks to second-half goals from Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten; the Blues move top with two-point advantage over City and a game in hand
Sunday 17 November 2024 13:31, UK
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor is embracing her side being the team to beat in the WSL after they went top with a 2-0 win over title rivals Manchester City.
Bompastor, the first coach in the league's history to win her opening seven games in the competition, kept up her perfect record at Chelsea since taking over from Emma Hayes thanks to second-half goals from Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten at Stamford Bridge.
City were also unbeaten heading into the game and top of the table, but Chelsea's crucial win puts the champions two points in front with a game in hand, which means they could feasibly extend their lead to five points.
Having chased the leaders for most of last season before going on to win their fifth consecutive title, Chelsea have taken control of the race as they look to preserve their dominance in the post-Hayes era.
Asked if Chelsea are the team to beat, Bompastor said: "Yeah, maybe at the moment the opposition can think that, especially because we had seven wins in a row in the league.
"But that's our standards, you know. Joining Chelsea, I was really aligned with the vision and the ambitions. We are the holders in this competition, in the league, and we just need to keep these standards.
"If everyone thinks we are the team to beat, that's fine for us. As a manager, I love to embrace the pressure. That's the job. And for my players, having this feeling to be the team to beat, that's a really good feeling."
Bompastor was keen not to get ahead of herself after the crucial win, reminding us that Chelsea "didn't win anything yet" under her, but was clear that Chelsea's aim is to stay perfect for the entire season.
Asked if she thinks her team can pull off that feat, she said: "This is our main goal, of course. But sometimes you just have impacts coming from outside.
"If we keep our players healthy and I have all the squad, then yeah, I will maybe be able to tell you, with the players coming back late that it could be possible."
Chelsea kept up their 100 per cent record at Stamford Bridge in the WSL against City, with 19,499 in attendance in west London, on the first weekend when all games across the competition are being played in main stadiums.
"It was really special," said Bompastor. "I told my players before the game, 'we do the best job in the world as players, as managers'. Again, I told them, like, 'just enjoy it'. We play at Stamford Bridge with 20,000 fans coming to the game.
"We're playing a great team, Man City. We are both fighting for the top of the table. And I think if you don't enjoy that moment, it's really difficult. Tonight it was fun. Fun to have the fans with us and fun to enjoy at the end."
City boss Gareth Taylor insisted his emotions were "fine" after the defeat, but refused to discuss the possibility of Chelsea moving five points clear of his side.
Asked about the potential of Chelsea further extending their lead at the top, he said: "Are we going to talk fantasy here or are we going to talk about the game?
"I can't control what Chelsea do in the next game. We are still up and around the top of the league, we had a very good start to the season. We've had a setback.
"I can't tell you about what they're going to do with their game in hand."
Asked about the game, he added: "Obviously we're disappointed, but I think it was a game of errors for both teams," he said. "A lot of opportunities came from mistakes. In the first half, they made more than us and we weren't able to capitalise.
"The game looked like it was going towards kind of a 0-0 and quickly it slipped away from us. But I think in terms of those errors, we slightly evened it up in the second half."
