Harder leads Chelsea past Manchester United and into League Cup final

Chelsea brushed aside 10-player Manchester United to book a place in the Continental League Cup final for the third season in a row.

First‑half goals from Pernille Harder, Jessie Fleming and Jess Carter sandwiched Vilde Bøe Risa’s reply for United and gave the back-to-back League Cup champions a trip to Plough Lane on 5 March where they will play the winner of the game on Thursday night between Manchester City and Tottenham.

United lost the goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley for the final 12 minutes after she took out the substitute Sam Kerr, who was clear through the middle, just outside the box but the game had been won in the first half.

The Manchester United manager, Marc Skinner, had insisted his side is a “different team” to the one that shipped six against Chelsea in a 6-1 defeat in the league at the end of September. But this was not a manager talking up his side without reason. United were very much a different team. On a seven‑game unbeaten run, with seven clean sheets to boot, before this trip to Kingsmeadow. The triple deadline-day signing of Lyon’s Signe Bruun on loan and the experienced duo Diane Caldwell and Jade Moore has also added depth to the squad that had beaten Arsenal to reach the last-four.

Chelsea have also seen an improvement in form, having not lost a game in 2022, after a 0-0 draw with Juventus and a 4-0 defeat to Wolfsburg saw Emma Hayes’ side crash out of the Champions League, dropping three points to Reading in the league in between, to end last year. Now, though, the fixtures are coming fast and the squad is being stretched. At a chilly Kingsmeadow, Hayes was without Melanie Leupolz, who is struggling with long Covid, Beth England, Ji So-yun whose wonder-strike knocked her teammate Kerr’s