Chelsea Women 2-0 Manchester City Women
The question is, can anyone stop Chelsea Women? Having inherited a winning habit from her predecessor, manager Sonia Bompastor is beginning to look invincible.
Faced with three tough games in the space of a week, she's chipper. "I love to embrace the pressure," she said after beating the Blues' closest rivals Manchester City at the weekend in front of nearly 20,000 fans at Stamford Bridge.
Two second-half goals in the space of five minutes from Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten were enough to see off Gareth Taylor's hitherto unbeaten team and send Chelsea to the top of the league.
Taylor described Chelsea as "quite a physical team who try to break quickly", and although his players matched the Blues stride for stride in the first half, it was that physicality and those rapid breaks that made the difference.
Even stalwarts like Lucy Bronze, who has just turned 33, can fire up the afterburners when needed to snuff out a threat or transition defence into attack.
She made a series of timely interventions to nullify the constant threat of City striker Khadija Shaw, although the absence through injury of Bunny's supplier-in-chief Lauren Hemp was keenly felt by the visitors.
A confident Bompastor now believes that only unexpected injuries can derail the momentum. And she had just such an issue to reveal, post-match; the ACL sustained by defender Kadeisha Buchanan in the Blues' recent 3-0 away win at Liverpool.
News that Buchanan will miss the rest of the season was described by the manager as "devastating", and comes on top of the slow-healing ligament injuries to Sam Kerr and Sophie Ingle, and Niamh Charles's shoulder problem.
But Chelsea's Women have a good blend of youth and experience in the squad, and with reliable back-up in every key position it makes the rearranged visit of Manchester United to Kingsmeadow this weekend eagerly anticipated.
Meanwhile Chelsea's men return from the international break to travel to Leicester on Saturday, with Noni Madueke on something of a high after some impressive performances in an England shirt.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
