Manchester City 0-1 Chelsea: Lauren James goal sends Blues into Women’s League Cup final

Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor believes his side were denied “a blatant penalty” as Lauren James’ first-half strike was enough to put Chelsea into the final of Women’s League Cup.

The visitors took advantage of a City error as Erin Cuthbert intercepted a misplaced pass by Laia Aleixandri before working the ball to Mayra Ramirez, who set up James to fire a near-post effort past Khiara Keating.

City had started brightly, but their promise quickly fizzled out after going behind and Chelsea should really have had another when Colombian Ramirez shot wide in front of an open net.

Chelsea managed the first half well, but a revitalised City posed more problems after the break with Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp both forcing goalkeeper Hannah Hampton to react quickly to keep the London side in front.

City were denied an injury-time penalty appeal when Alex Greenwood went down after what Taylor thought was a foul by Erin Cuthbert inside the box, while Greenwood had another late effort cleared off the line.

“I just don’t understand sometimes these decisions that go against us,” Taylor told BBC Sport.

“That’s a blatant penalty on Alex Greenwood. We’re the team in the ascendency.

“Good luck to Chelsea. We were magnificent tonight. We’re a little bit disappointed because we worked tremendously hard to win this trophy. I couldn’t have asked for much more from the players.”

Defeat is City’s first in 13 games in all competitions, having beaten Chelsea by the same scoreline in the league three weeks ago.

Chelsea will face Arsenal, who beat Aston Villa 4-0 on Wednesday, in the League Cup final at Molineux on Sunday, 31 March.

Chelsea’s quality secures ticket to the final

This was the third meeting of the season between City and Chelsea, but the first the London club won.

Going into the game Emma Hayes said she was not looking for revenge after City beat Chelsea 1-0 in the WSL to draw level at the top of the table, but Chelsea will take a psychological boost from beating their title rivals.

“It felt like the reverse fixture two weeks ago where they went 1-0 up and defended in great numbers. Same for us tonight,” she told BBC Sport.

“We scored early and I thought we defended rally well. Unbelievable performance for Hannah Hampton. We only had one registered centre-back and one centre forward. We were pretty thin this evening so it’s a tremendous result for the team.”

Taking such an early advantage made all the difference on Thursday evening, allowing Chelsea to excel in game-management as they frustrated City in the final third and kept the England duo of Hemp and Chloe Kelly quiet on either wing.

Striker Ramirez was forced off through injury in the first half, being replaced by youngster Aggie Beever-Jones, and Chelsea missed the Colombian’s physicality.

City came close to levelling in the second half when Park found Hemp after driving into the box, but Hampton was quick off her line to stop the forward’s effort.

Park’s creative influence continually caused trouble for Chelsea, the visitors’ defence struggling to deal with her pace and low centre of gravity as she ran into any pockets of space, but they dug deep to see the game out.

This is Chelsea boss Emma Hayes’ final season in charge before she takes over as manager of the United States, and beating City means a quadruple remains a possibility.

They lead the WSL, have reached the League Cup final, and are in the quarter-finals of both the Champions League and FA Cup.

Getting the better of City is another step towards giving Hayes the perfect send-off.

Line-upsMan City Women

Formation 4-1-4-1

35Keating

18Casparij4Aleixandri5Greenwood15Ouahabi

25Hasegawa

9Kelly16Park7Coombs11Hemp

21Shaw

Substitutes

Chelsea Women

Formation 4-4-2

24Hampton

15Périsset7Carter6Nüsken21Charles

10James22Cuthbert8Leupolz11Reiten

35Ramírez28Cankovic

Substitutes

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