Chelsea boss sends Manchester United message before final day showdown

Marc Skinner and his Manchester United side have been praised by title-rivals Chelsea boss Emma Hayes for their steely resistance in pushing the WSL race to the season’s final day, dubbing Skinner’s squad “far and away one of the best teams in the league this year”.

Lucia Garcia’s dramatic injury-time winner over Manchester City on the penultimate day of the season denied the reigning champions early celebrations with the WSL title race forced into a final day reckoning.

United sit two points shy of Chelsea at the top as they travel to Liverpool on Saturday, while the Blues travel to relegation-threatened Reading.

Fate firmly rests in Chelsea’s hands, but if the Royals’ plot for a final day upset comes to fruition, Skinner’s side could find themselves lifting a first-ever WSL title.

And Hayes acknowledged the challenge that United have posed to their bid for an unprecedented fourth successive WSL feat and has insisted that the United fanbase should not consider a second-place finish as anything other than an achievement.

“I know they’ll be very proud of them, [United] are very deserving of the place they’re in,” Hayes said in her pre-match press conference. “Like us they’re competing for the title in the final game.

“They’re deserving of everything, they’ve had an outstanding year. [Skinner] has had an outstanding year. And I think everybody in the football world recognises that quality and internally we credit them by making sure we’re as prepared as possible when we play against them.”

Chelsea have claimed the league on the final day of the season three times in the last eight years, with their know-how on big occasions likely to come to the fore once more, an edge that United fell victim to only recently in a