Reigning Women's Super League champions Chelsea began their defence with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over title rivals Manchester City.

On an entertaining opening night - where Chelsea introduced their new £1m signing Alyssa Thompson before kick-off - the Blues scored two slick goals either side of the break, similar in nature, to secure Sonia Bompastor a record-breaking 20th WSL win.

The Frenchwoman becomes the quickest manager in the competition's history to reach that total, despite being pushed all the way by dogged City, who played aggressively in the style of new head coach Andree Jeglertz and forced Niamh Charles into an awkward own goal which made for a nervy end.

Before that, Bunny Shaw had squandered a handful of chances, while Yui Hasegawa and Lily Murphy were denied by Chels

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