Chelsea Women captain Magdalena Eriksson and top scorer Bethany England have shared their thoughts on our hard-fought encounter with title rivals Manchester City which ended in a 3-3 draw on Sunday.
This clash never fails to entertain and it was just as action-packed as expected when spectators enjoyed a nail-biting six-goal thriller at Manchester City’s Academy Stadium. The top-of-the-table match could have gone either way with both teams missing clear opportunities throughout the contest .‘It could have been anyone’s game, it was really tight right from the start,’ Eriksson said.‘We all had our moments throughout the game and of course we’re not happy with conceding three goals but Man City, all credit to them, they were good. It was a really tight game.‘City are an amazing team, they have a good structure and they are really hard to beat. We could have done it today [Sunday], I’m really disappointed with conceding the last goal.‘We should have kept the lead after 3-2 but it’s the way it is,’ the Chelsea skipper continued.
The Blues were trailing City shortly after the 20-minute mark when Ellen White poked home from close range and the script could have been written differently if England had put away a big chance early on.However, England made up for the miss and notched her 14th WSL goal of the campaign with a sensational long-range strike that put us into a 3-2 lead with 15 minutes left on the clock. But Man City had other ideas and our one-goal cushion was short-lived when Lauren Hemp equalised two minutes.‘Obviously extremely disappointed with that first miss, I should be better than that, I’m right in front of goal,’ England said.‘It just went through my legs but thankfully I managed to make up for it and get the team in front, but like Mags [Magda Eriksson] said, disappointed we didn’t keep it at 3-2.’
Although we took a share of the points, England says we are still in a great position in the Women’s Super League with the Blues just one point behind leaders City with a game in hand, which could prove vital in terms of the title race.‘Anything can happen, we’re still in this title race, we’re not taking our foot off the gas. We’ve got a game in hand so as long as we continue to push and keep getting the results. We just focus on us and let everyone else worry about us.’The Blues now shift our attentions to Saturday’s Continental Tyres League Cup final against Arsenal. The match takes place at Nottingham Forest's City Ground with a 5.30pm kick-off and is Chelsea’s first shot at clinching silverware this season.