Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea: Bompastor's side see perfect start ended

Manchester United came from behind to end Chelsea's perfect start to the Women's Super League campaign, earning a 1-1 draw at Progress with Unity Stadium.

Wieke Kaptein had given the Blues an early lead, but Anna Sandberg cancelled it out in the first half to spoil Sonia Bompastor's 100th league game as a manager.

Elisabeth Terland forced a smart stop out of Hannah Hampton less than 90 seconds in, but Chelsea found the breakthrough in the ninth minute. After smart work down the right, Catarina Macario flicked it on at the near post, teeing up Kaptein for a close-range finish.

United pushed forward in return and got their reward 11 minutes later, with Sandberg curling a lovely long-range finish just out of Hampton's reach.

Kaptein could have had a second shortly after the half-hour mark, but her instinctive first-time strike was excellently parried by Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

United pushed without testing Hampton in the second half, though Fridolina Rolfo's blocked effort struck the post before Melvine Malard drilled narrowly wide of the far post after a quick counter-attack.

Dominique Janssen almost played United into trouble in the final five minutes with a loose backpass to the goalkeeper, but Tullis-Joyce rushed off her line to sweep the danger away from Alyssa Thompson.

Tullis-Joyce then got down sharply to deny Keira Walsh, while a last-ditch block from Jansson kept out Guro Reiten in stoppage time.

Data Debrief: United dig in to avoid another Chelsea loss

United had lost 10 of their 11 WSL meetings with Chelsea, having only earned one other point against the Blues back in September 2020. 

It should perhaps come as no surprise, though, as United have never lost a top-flight match in October (P17 W12 D5).

Chelsea certainly had their chances, finishing the match with 2.52 expected goals (xG) from 19 attempts, to United's 1.0 xG from 15 shots. The Blues also had double the amount of efforts on target (six to three).