Ramírez and Reiten sink Manchester City to send Chelsea top of WSL

Erin Cuthbert described Mayra Ramírez’s goal as “sheer euphoria”, after the Colombia international broke the resolve of a resilient Alex Greenwood to put Chelsea ahead, before Guro Reiten added a second, in the tightest of chess matches against Manchester City.

It was an emphatic end at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea took the spoils to leapfrog City at the top of the WSL table, two points clear and with a game in hand.

Cuthbert said that the Blues are “loving” playing under Sonia Bompastor, who became the first manager to win her first seven WSL games. “We are loving it. Emma [Hayes] left some brilliant foundations and Sonia has added to that,” she said.

Bompastor said: “I really want to work in an environment where everyone is happy to come. The dynamic is really good, we are full of confidence because the results are great.”

The anguish on Greenwood’s face after Ramírez had escaped her clutches – the one and only time she would across the 96 minutes played – told the story of the significance of the defeat. Both managers had played down the impact of this one game on the title race. Last season City took four points across the two games against their rivals with Chelsea winning the title on goal difference. However, the deflation in the lowered heads of the City players on the final whistle suggested otherwise.

Many were predicting that only the finest of margins would separate the WSL’s two in-form sides and that would prove to be the case, City manager Gareth Taylor describing it as a “game of errors for both teams”.

When the teamsheet landed the odds had edged in Chelsea’s favour, Lauren Hemp and Greenwood’s defensive partner, Laia Aleixandri, costly omissions for the visiting team. Taylor had been cagey about influential Hemp’s chances of being fit after a knee injury ruled her out of their midweek Champions League defeat of Swedish side Hammarby, and the absence of the forward, who has created 26 chances in the league this season, was felt at Stamford Bridge, with service to Khadija Shaw limited, forcing her to edge deeper and deeper in search of the ball.

For all the build-up, the clash of the title titans was not matching the hype and a stalemate looked on the cards.

The second half was more frenetic though. Perhaps it was due to the palpably tense atmosphere as the game wore on. Perhaps it was the feeling that the chance to maintain a winning run was slipping away for the home team. Perhaps it was the likelihood of City extending their lead at the top of the table diminishing. Whatever it was, the energy was upped, but this game was a testament to the defensive prowess of England centre-backs Millie Bright and Greenwood.

It was inevitable that an opening would come from a chink in that defensive armour and, in the 75th minute Ramírez pounced. Alanna Kennedy was muscled off the ball leaving the Colombian forward one-on-one with Greenwood who she sidestepped before firing low into the far corner past Ayaka Yamashita.

With City rattled, Chelsea doubled their lead five minutes later when Lucy Bronze clipped the ball to an unmarked Reiten on the right and the Norwegian forward curled the ball into the bottom corner.

Advantage Chelsea, who sailed, in the end, over their biggest hurdle to date under their new manager.