Blues held to draw but keep their gap at top of the table

A JI SO-YUN double denied City the chance to go four points clear at the top of the FA Women’s Super League.

The South Korean midfielder scored twice after the break – her second a deflected 89thminute free-kick – to keep Chelsea’s title hopes alive with a 2-2 draw after first-half strikes from Tessa Wullaert and Georgia Stanway had put City ahead.

Inside the first five minutes, the reigning champions spurned a golden opportunity when Beth England couldn’t turn home Demi Stokes’ loose pass.

And City made them pay when slapdash defending from Emma Hayes’ side allowed Wullaert to dispossess Millie Bright and the Belgian drove to the edge of the area before hamming past Hedvig Lindahl.

The table-toppers were rewarded again when Stanway found space on the edge of the area and angled the ball in off the post to score her 11th goal of the season.

Chelsea’s willingness to play out from the back presented chances for the hosts and Nikita Parris, on her 100th FA WSL appearance, narrowly missed out on a third goal against Chelsea in five days.

After the restart, Wullaert was denied by a fine save from Lindahl and Chelsea broke back as So-Yun found space in the area before sweeping the ball under Karen Bardsley to score.

The FA WSL’s record goalscorer Parris twice broke free one-on-one but the striker remarkably fired wide on both occasions in the space of ten minutes – and it proved costly as So-Yun’s 89th-minute free-kick took a deflection and looped over Bardsley for the equaliser.

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