Chelsea and Manchester City face off hoping to atone for poor WSL starts

The new Women’s Super League season has only just begun but in many ways the stakes could not be higher going into the second weekend. Chelsea take on Manchester City at a sold-out Kingsmeadow on Sunday afternoon, with two of the game’s heavyweights desperate to avoid back-to-back defeats and kickstart their campaign.

Both sides will have expected to have points on the board but with the postponement of the opening weekend and surprise defeats last time out, the pressure is on.

Emma Hayes would never say it publicly but her Chelsea side’s performance last week will have caused her slight consternation. A testing pre-season away in the US should have provided the defending champions with strong foundations. However, despite dominating the ball, they seemed disjointed in their opener against an impressive Liverpool in which they managed just four shots on target, ultimately losing to a penalty three minutes from time.

The lack of creativity can in some part be attributed to an enforced last-minute change. Pernille Harder withdrew during the warmup after sustaining a hamstring injury and it is still uncertain if she will recover in time for Sunday’s game. Her replacement, Sophie Ingle, is a different type of player with stronger defensive qualities, whose presence altered the balance of the side.

However, there were other tactical decisions from Hayes that raised a few eyebrows, including deploying Lauren James in an unfamiliar right wing-back role. It is not often, however, that this Chelsea side fails to respond to adversity. Hayes trusts in her experienced personnel to come up with answers.

“I always do [get a reaction],” she says. “I never worry about that with my group. I always think there are so many leaders in the