{"id":290781,"date":"2023-10-02T21:30:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T21:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=290781"},"modified":"2023-10-02T21:30:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T21:30:52","slug":"lauren-james-on-target-as-chelsea-open-wsl-title-defence-with-win-over-tottenham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/lauren-james-on-target-as-chelsea-open-wsl-title-defence-with-win-over-tottenham\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren James on target as Chelsea open WSL title defence with win over Tottenham"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lauren James celebrates at Stamford Bridge <\/p>\n
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Champions Chelsea <\/strong>opened their Women\u2019s Super League title defence with a 2-1 win over Tottenham <\/strong>at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n Australia striker Sam Kerr, who had been injured at the World Cup, was not in the squad – but Chelsea debutant Mia Fishel headed the home side into a 27th-minute lead.<\/p>\n England international Lauren James added another early in the second half from a cross by Guro Reiten, whose initial effort looked to have been cleared away from behind the line.<\/p>\n Spurs set up a tense closing 15 minutes when Martha Thomas pulled a goal back, before Chelsea substitute Jelena Cankovic saw her late goal ruled out for offside.<\/p>\n Manchester United<\/strong> came from behind to beat Aston Villa<\/strong> 2-1 with a stoppage-time goal from substitute Rachel Williams at Villa Park, where the hosts saw Kirsty Hanson sent off.<\/p>\n Scotland winger Hanson was shown a straight red card in the 74th minute for her high tackle on United midfielder Hayley Ladd.<\/p>\n Villa, though, soon took the lead through England international Rachel Daly, only for Lucia Garcia to quickly have United back on level terms.<\/p>\n Just when it seemed both teams would have to settle for a point, Williams headed in Nikita Parris\u2019 deflected cross to secure United a dramatic victory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rachel Williams scored a late winner for Manchester United <\/p>\n Leicester<\/strong> came from behind to beat newly-promoted Bristol City<\/strong> 4-2 at Ashton Gate.<\/p>\n The Robins, back in the top flight after an absence of two seasons, went ahead through a fine strike from Carrie Jones in the 33rd minute.<\/p>\n New Leicester signing Aimee Palmer, playing against her former club, fired the visitors level in added time at the end of the first half.<\/p>\n Leicester took control after the break, as Shannon O\u2019Brien put them in front and German striker Lena Petermann, making her debut, headed a third in the 52nd minute.<\/p>\n Fellow debutant Jutta Rantala increased Leicester\u2019s lead with seven minutes left before Amalie Thestrup scored her first Robins goal from the penalty spot.<\/p>\n Elisabeth Terland scored twice in the first half as Brighton <\/strong>opened their WSL campaign with a 2-0 win at Everton.<\/strong><\/p>\n Norway forward Terland headed in after the ball came back off the crossbar to give the visitors a third-minute lead and soon added a second after being played in by Katie Robinson.<\/p>\n Everton captain Megan Finnigan reduced the deficit just after the hour, but the home side were unable to conjure an equaliser.<\/p>\n Manchester City<\/strong> won 2-0 at West Ham<\/strong> as Jill Roord scored on her debut.<\/p>\n Lauren Hemp broke the deadlock early in the second half with a curling effort before Chloe Kelly then saw her penalty saved.<\/p>\n Netherlands international Roord, a club-record summer signing from Wolfsburg, slotted in to open her City account in the 55th minute.<\/p>\n City finished a player down after Leila Ouahabi was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Emma Harries, but the Hammers could not get themselves back into the game.<\/p>\n Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lauren James celebrates at Stamford Bridge Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRecommended<\/h3>\n
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