Manchester United and Chelsea suffer shock WSL defeats

07 February 2021 08:00

Chelsea and Manchester United both suffered Women's Super League shocks on Sunday, with the Blues beaten 2-1 by Brighton while United lost 2-0 against Reading.

The Seagulls' victory ended a run of 33 games unbeaten for their opponents, with goals from Aileen Whelan and Megan Connolly trumping Sam Kerr's opener.

Chelsea got off to a perfect start when Kerr nodded home superbly from a corner inside five minutes. However, just a few minutes later Connolly equalised - again with a fine header. The hosts pushed hard for another, only for Brighton to shock them with an 78th minute winner.

Connolly's goal was rather unconventional, with her corner missing everyone and ending up in the back of Chelsea's net. Blues boss Emma Hayes - who was linked with a move to Wimbledon earlier this week - opted to rest several big name players for the contest, with Fran Kirby and Pernille Harder both left out of the starting XI.

The result meant that United could have gone top of the WSL table with a victory, only for them to also suffer an upset at the hands of Reading. With the scores level at the break, the Royals burst into life in the second half.

Two goals in two minutes from Natasha Harding and Danielle Carter put the game beyond the Red Devils, with manager Casey Stoney voicing her displeasure with the performance after the game.

"That wasn’t good enough from us. In both boxes, we needed to be better. We could’ve finished the game, but in terms of chances we didn’t do that and then we conceded from two set pieces so it wasn’t good enough," she said (via the WSL website).

United and Chelsea are set to battle it out with Manchester City for the title this season, so both will be massively disappointed to have dropped points this weekend.

Source: 90min