LAUREN LOOKING LETHAL... BUT ALL’S NOT WELL AT CITY

IN YEARS gone by, games between Chelsea and Manchester City have been pulsating, end-toend, high-scoring affairs.

But after an opening-day defeat at newly-promoted Liverpool, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes had said she would be happy with a dull, close game with few goals, as long as her team came out on top. She got her wish.

Chelsea were worthy winners, with goals from Fran Kirby and Maren Mjelde sealing a 2-0 victory.

‘First half I thought we overplayed, we kept playing ourselves into trouble,’ Hayes said. ‘Second half we adapted, they stopped pressing. We were lucky in the first half. It felt like today was the season opener. It looked like two teams who haven’t got momentum in the season.’

City have now lost their first two games of the season for the first time since 2014. The word ‘crisis’ is too strong but all is not well in the blue half of Manchester.

The presence of ex-Netherlands boss Mark Parsons in the crowd at Kingsmeadow may have been a coincidence but pressure will mount on City boss Gareth Taylor if results do not improve.

‘That’s the nature of the league, I’ve always been negative about that, 22 games is nothing,’ Taylor said. ‘It is what it is. Unless teams keep beating each other, then you can get away with four defeats in a season and still win the league.

‘It’s a new team with new players to bed in. Unfortunately, at the moment we have a couple of defeats which is difficult to take but there are positives.’

There were mixed performances from the England players on show but the standout was forward Lauren James. Her passing, dribbling and awareness were first-class.

City defender Steph Houghton almost gifted Chelsea the opener with a misplaced backpass to goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck.

The ball was intercepted by Sam Kerr but the forward played a poor pass to Kirby, whose effort was blocked. But City would be punished just before half-time.

Jessie Fleming skipped past Houghton on the edge of the box and played through Guro Reiten. She cut the ball back to an unmarked Kirby who, with Roebuck drawn off her line, had an empty net to finish into.

James nearly doubled the lead with a driving run and strike.

The decisive goal came 12 minutes from time as Sophie Ingle’s shot was blocked by the hand of Leila Ouahabi. Referee Abigail Byrne pointed to the spot and Mjelde fired into the top corner.