Manchester City 0-3 Chelsea
Chelsea profited from a dominant first-half performance at the Academy Stadium to secure their place in next month’s FA Cup Final. It was a tough day for Manchester City, who suffered their heaviest home defeat since 2014.
This was the fifth meeting between these two sides in the last seven editions of the FA Cup. The ultimate difference on the day was Chelsea’s greater ability to take the chances that came their way, aided by two errors from City goalkeeper Karima Benameur Taieb.
Hayley Raso returned to the bench for the Sky Blues, however Alanna Kennedy was ineligible after playing for Tottenham Hotspur in an earlier stage of the competition – while we are currently in the 2021-22 season, this is still the 2020-21 edition of the FA Cup. City were without ten players through injury and head coach Gareth Taylor was forced to name 16-year-old keeper Grace Pilling on a bench of five players (compared to Chelsea’s nine).
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes named Sam Kerr in her starting line-up despite the Matildas star having only returned to England late in the week. Notably, the Blues named Lauren James in a matchday squad for the first time since her arrival in the summer from Manchester United. However, the quad injury Pernille Harder suffered during international action for Denmark kept her out of the line-up.
City had the benefit of a strong wind in the first half and made a solid start. Bunny Shaw and Ellen White combined well down the flanks, with Dutch international defender Aniek Nouwen doing well to snuff out any danger those two caused.
Chelsea’s large group of vocal supporters could be heard throughout the afternoon and the visitors gained their first chance in the opening five minutes when Kerr found Fran Kirby in the box, however the Lioness’ header was well wide.
Lauren Hemp was in typically rampaging form on the left flank and targeted runs at Jess Carter. Just after the quarter-hour mark, the City flyer skipped past her Chelsea shadow and sent a low ball towards White’s near post run, with the shot going just past the post.
The South-West Londoners replied from a free kick on the right-hand side of the box after Demi Stokes felled Erin Cuthbert and was booked. Cuthbert dusted herself off and floated in a cross which Nouwen nodded the wrong side of the far post.
Chelsea pressed again on 22 minutes when Cuthbert combined with Melanie Leupolz on the right. The German international played an angled pass into Kerr’s path, and as she was about to shoot Jill Scott denied her with a superb tackle.
The deadlock was broken when the resulting corner came directly to Cuthbert on the right-hand side of the box. Chelsea’s no. 22 took a touch, beat Laura Coombs and smashed a shot that went through Taieb’s raised hands.
Ultimately, the deciding moment of the game came five minutes later as Chelsea doubled their lead, with Taieb culpable once more. The move began with Carter’s throw in on the right, and Cuthbert was involved before the ball found its way back to Leupolz in the ‘D’. The German squeezed between two markers and hit a low effort which squirmed into the right-hand corner of the net via Taieb’s hand.
Chelsea were rampant now and their relentless high press did not allow the hosts to settle on the ball. They had a penalty shout when Hemp grabbed Carter by the arm as she advanced into the box but nothing was awarded.
With ten minutes until the break, Taieb redeemed herself by saving well after Kerr was played in by Kirby’s beautifully angled pass. Kirby could have made things worse for City four minutes later, however despite having all the time in the world her powerful effort was saved at point-blank range by Taieb.
City ended the half on the front foot. Three minutes before the interval, Hemp stole possession from Carter and was fouled by Leupolz, left of centre around 25 yards out from goal. Alex Greenwood played the free-kick towards the back-post and Scott tried to side foot the ball across the box but Chelsea cleared (albeit awkwardly) and it remained 2-0 at the break in the Londoners’ favour.
Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor looked to shake things up by changing to a 4-4-2 formation and bringing on 20-year-old Jess Park for Shaw, who faded after a promising start.
Chelsea continued to press and Taieb was called upon, stopping Cuthbert’s fierce shot from point-blank range after she was played in by Kirby.
Just before the hour mark, Kerr was replaced by Bethany England. City forced a corner shortly afterwards as Park reached Greenwood’s long ball and forced Ann-Katrin Berger to palm an effort away. The resulting corner found Caroline Weir, who played the ball back towards Hemp, but her shot was well wide of the right-hand post.
Matters became increasingly scrappy through the middle period of the second half, favouring the visitors due to their lead on the scoreboard. While Hemp continued to offer the most threat for City, they still lacked the creativity to unlock the Chelsea defence and too many of the home side’s attackers (notably Janine Beckie and White) were starved of the ball. With the hosts having limited numbers on the bench, their game-changing options were limited compared to the massed talent on Chelsea’s substitute list which included England, Jessie Fleming and Ji So-Yun.
In the final minute of regulation time, Chelsea put the icing on the cake as Sophie Ingle found Fleming on the right-hand side. Her cross found England in acres of space and the Barnsley-born star headed home.
Chelsea clinched a Wembley trip relatively comfortably and Berger had fewer shots to save than she may have expected – but there was time for one outstanding stop in the final exchanges when she pushed Park’s rasping drive onto the post.
With this being last season’s FA Cup competition, Chelsea are now just one win away from clinching a 2020-21 domestic quadruple as they look to add an FA Cup title to their Barclays FA Women’s Super League, Conti Cup and FA Community Shield successes.
As for City, whilst injuries are a big part of their current malaise, there are enough quality players across the team to be obtaining far better results than they have this season.
Speaking after the game, Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor said: “The first half is where we lost the game. We were in decent control for the first 20 minutes but then as soon as we conceded, it affected us. We conceded two soft goals.
We had a good conversation at half-time and changed things around, it was okay in that respect and we showed spirit to come back but those early goals decided the tie. The second half was pretty even really, but we struggled to create, which is disappointing.”
Asked if he feels under pressure given his team’s poor run of results, Taylor was clear: “Absolutely. I put pressure on myself.”
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes was exceptionally proud of her team, particularly given how many of them had made long journeys back from international football and backed it up by playing in this game:
“That’s one of my favourite performances, because of how hard it is after an international break. I thought our mentality was superb today – our pressing, our counter-pressing, our restarts; how we created chances was so efficient.
“Jess (Carter) had a job to do on Hemp today and I thought she did it really well. She’s world-class, Lauren Hemp, and you’re never going to contain her for 90 minutes, but we wanted to make it as difficult as possible for her.
“I love the FA Cup. It’s such a great competition to be in and I can’t wait for the final at Wembley. I’m so delighted with the performance today – we didn’t let the game turn into something it didn’t need to be. We’ve been giving away unnecessary goals so it was nice to keep a clean sheet.”
Asked about whether she has thoughts of completing a domestic clean sweep from last season, Hayes was typically honest: “Yeah, course I am! What do you think?! I don’t get out of bed just to turn up. I’m here to win, the whole team’s here to win!”
Teams: MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Benameur Taieb, Beckie, Scott, Greenwood, Stokes, Coombes, Walsh, Weir, Hemp, Shaw, White. Substitutes: Angeldahl, Raso, Park (for Shaw 46’), Losada (for Walsh 67’), Pilling (GK).
CHELSEA (3-4-3): Berger, Nouwen, Bright, Eriksson, Carter, Ingle, Leupolz, Reiten, Cuthbert, Kerr, Kirby. Substitutes: Musovic (GK), England (for Kerr 58’), Ji, Fleming (for Reiten 73’), James, Charles (for Kirby 79’), Spence (for Leupolz 73’), Andersson, Fox.
Scorers: Cuthbert 23’, Leupolz 28’, England 89′.
Referee: Rebecca Welch.
