Intense Chelsea Women display rescues an FAWSL point late on vs Manchester City Women

Chelsea Women battled from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Manchester City Women on Sunday. Despite rescuing a point, the result will probably work best for Arsenal Women. The draw leaves the Gunners just two points behind FAWSL leaders City with two games in hand. Chelsea remain in third, five points off the top two.

Chelsea’s intensity

Chelsea went into this game with confidence, however. From the off, the FAWSL champions looked to show why they were champions. This was seen very early on as Chelsea’s game plan was clear. They aimed to press the hosts high up the pitch and force problems.

Despite City proving they are quite comfortable in playing out from the back under pressure, they were forced into a few mistakes. If anything, the opening exchanges were more encouraging for Chelsea as seen below.

Here we saw an example of Chelsea’s press at its best. Their forward players pressed as a unit and it made a difference. In this sequence, we can see Chelsea ended up committing four players which allowed them to stop City’s attack before it started.

It was a difficult game plan to execute but it was done well for the most part on Sunday. Even when City were able to keep the ball, it was hard for them to break Chelsea down.