Lucy Bronze’s late header helped him win the sixth consecutive WSL title for the Chelsea women by beating the male UTD women 1-0 at Leigh Sports Village.
The Bruce were given the opportunity to close the league after Arsenal was beaten 5-2 by Aston Villa on Wednesday.
Mark Skinner’s side pushed Chelsea all the way through in an energetic, intense game, but the Bronze finally made a breakthrough.
It was just the 10th WSL goal, Phallon Tullis-Joyce, and Man Utd Defense has confirmed this season, and it could have been more without their informed goalkeeper.
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Lucy Bronze led the final winner
Her best moments came early in the second half and quickly denies Erin Cuthbert, Aggie Bieber Jones and Johanna Wright Cannelid.
This loss is a blow to Man UTD’s hopes for women’s Champions League football next season. He’s still two points away from Arsenal, and Manchester City is still playing.
They definitely should have left the points at least as well. Melvine Mallard approached late in the first half and latched to a poor Chelsea back pass, but was rejected by Naomi Gilma and Hannah Hampton. Grace Clinton then sent a follow-up on the bar.
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Chelsea secured their sixth consecutive WSL title
Mallard also drew a great save from Hampton minutes after the break, but Man Utd couldn’t find a way past the final WSL champion.
Chelsea have now won the title for six consecutive seasons, taking charge of Sonia’s Bonpaster’s first WSL victory in his first season. She continues the course for domestic highs, which already won the League Cup earlier this year.
The Bruce will once again face Man UTD in the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley on May 18th, aiming to close out another trophy against the current owners.
Bompastor: Tonight’s title win is a bit unrealistic
Chelsea head coach Sonia Bonpaster to Sky Sports:
“It’s a great achievement. It’s a bit unrealistic, but we didn’t expect Arsenal to drop points tonight, but it’s amazing that we can go back after Sunday’s game and beat a big team.
“I told the team before the game that it was a great opportunity to get closer to the title, even if they didn’t think this was the real thing. I’m very proud of the players, staff, teams and clubs.
“Tonight was a team performance. We were together. We bouncing off, showing the amazing character this team has.
“We didn’t expect to be in that position at the start of the season and we were hoping we could achieve that when we had two games left, and we knew we worked so hard to fight to the end.
“The biggest challenge is probably my English? But this league is really competitive so it’s very good that we’re undefeated and we achieve something very good just to achieve what we’ve done.
“It’s not easy to come as a new manager to adapt to a new country, to a new league. I’ve learned a lot. But I have a lot of players and great staff. I’m not the only one.”
Bronze: We want to be undefeated now
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Lucy Bronze gives the reaction by winning the winner against Manchester United, who sealed Chelsea’s sixth straight WSL title.
Chelsea scorer Lucy Bronze to Sky Sports:
“I knew the draw would be good enough, I wanted to be undefeated and have a clean sheet, but it’s good to score and get a win.
“It’s better to celebrate being a champion when you win the game.
“There are two things that are fortunate for us this season, as we were undefeated.
“We won tonight, but we still have two games and we want to win those games, we want to be undefeated all season.
“The good thing is that you can finish at Stamford Bridge at home and celebrate all the fans coming down and winning the trophy.
“It’s hard to focus on so many competitions. We’ve always said that. It worked well to keep everything up to the end.
“I’m glad I came here, celebrated my victory, title and got over the disappointment of the weekend.
“Next season, we weren’t at our best in the second half of the season, so we can improve on a lot more.
“Sonia has done well so far. She wants more from us. We can give it.”
Christensen: What did Bonpazar do?
Image: Chelsea won the WSL title with a 1-0 victory at Man UTD
Sky Sports “Izzy Christensen of Izzy Sports Village:
“This is something that has been created for Sonia Bompastor, her staff and her new players, as well as the existing players who have done this before.
“They don’t care where they do it or how they do it as long as they do it.
“Man Utd was a better team tonight, but their goals and bronze and team mentality are credit to the foundations this team has built.
“It’s a huge job and a huge weight to carry. [to win the WSL title again]but because you already have two trophies, this is what you remember as a player.
“What a job Bonpaser did. The big players who have been injured all season, their depth, their support, their resources, and they found a way to win it again.”
Hampton thanks the Villa for Arsenal’s victory
Chelsea goalkeeper Hanna Hampton to Sky Sports:
“It’s incredible. I don’t think I have enough words. I have to thank the villa for helping us at the beginning of the evening.
“I am so excited and happy to be part of this team, not the Champions League, we achieved everything we wanted, but we will fight to the end.
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Highlights from the women’s Super League match between Aston Villa and Arsenal.
“That’s what we did here. We won the league in two games, so we’re all ec. We believe we don’t mess with those games.
“We knew we had to respond in a good way, not the way we probably wanted to get out of the Champions League.
“We knew we could fight a little more, but we’ll always be here next year.
“Now we can enjoy this. We got them again in a few weeks so it’s going to be a tough game, but we’ll give it all.”
