In the Chelsea dressing room, no one uttered a word in front of Sonia Bompastor about the possibility of winning the Women’s Super League before their away game against Manchester United on Wednesday night.
But the players were aware that Arsenal’s 5-2 defeat to Aston Villa, which finished 30 minutes before their kick-off at Leigh Sports Village (LSV), left an opening for them to snatch the title with two games to spare. Bompastor did not want to speak about it though as such information may have allowed her players to relax a little.
It was a question of when not if Chelsea would win the league but nobody expected it to happen on Wednesday. Yet Lucy Bronze leapt to head the ball home in the 74th minute to hand Bompastor’s side a 1-0 win and a sixth consecutive league triumph.
The celebrations were muted. When the full-time whistle blew, Sandy Baltimore hopped on the back of compatriot Maelys Mpome, Millie Bright burst into a huge smile and later hugged her parents, who were in the far corner of LSV with the travelling fans. Along with Erin Cuthbert, who had a Scottish flag tied around her waist, Bright lofted Guro Reiten in the air. Aggie Beever-Jones grabbed a water bottle and poured it over Niamh Charles’ head, yet there was no spraying of bubbles.
The team formed a…
