Caroline Weir inspires Manchester City to League Cup final win over Chelsea

Manchester City continued a remarkable turnaround in their season by coming from behind to secure their first silverware of the 2021-22 campaign.

Two goals from the Scotland midfielder Caroline Weir sandwiched Ellen White’s poached effort after Australia forward Sam Kerr had given Chelsea a first-half lead in a fiery encounter.

Weir had said before the match that “there’s no better way to keep momentum that than go and win a final” after a challenging start to the season and she took the game by the scruff of the neck to deliver victory for City and heap more pain on Chelsea fans in a week they will want to forget.

There is no love lost between Chelsea and City, with the two teams having met seven times in FA Cup or League Cup semi-finals and twice at the quarter-final stage. But they had, inexplicably, never met in a final.

In front of an overwhelmingly Chelsea crowd, with Plough Lane 5.5 miles from their own home ground of Kingsmeadow (bought from AFC Wimbledon prior to the team’s move to their new ground), Emma Hayes’s side struggled to prevent City dominating possession.

Chelsea arguably were the favourites going into the tie as back-to-back winners of the competition and having done the double over City in the league. However, in a 4-0 away win in Manchester in November the Scottish winger Erin Cuthbert had starred, staying glued to City’s most potent threat, Lauren Hemp, and limited her options.

Chelsea were without the dogged Cuthbert due to injury this time. They were also missing their influential forward Fran Kirby, who scored twice and provided four assists in last season’s final, through illness and the Olympic gold medallist Jessie Fleming to Covid.

City were unlucky to not be ahead in the 26th minute as