Bompastor’s bold changes sink Manchester City as Chelsea go top of WSL

Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday in a Women's Super League match, handing City their first defeat of the season and moving Chelsea to the top of the table.

Sonia Bompastor removed defender Kadeisha Buchanan 12 minutes into the top-of-the-table clash, bringing on Veerle Buurman, a decision that caused visible confusion among Chelsea players when the fourth official's board displayed the substitution. Buchanan jogged off and headed down the tunnel clearly upset; Bompastor explained the reasoning after the game, saying: "Yesterday in training she got a knock to her head in contact with a team-mate but she was fine. "She was fine in the evening and we assessed her again this morning and everything was fine. I had that information before the game. "But I felt from watching her at the beginning of the game that she was not herself. I took the responsibility to make the substitution. "I felt I was almost forced to do that. I know my player and she was not in the game."

Buurman quickly contained City's early threat, limiting Khadija Shaw's ability to get in behind and helping Chelsea regain control; the hosts led at half-time thanks to a goal from Sandy Baltimore. Shaw did not record a shot on target and England international Lauren Hemp was quiet as Buurman marshalled Chelsea's backline, later collecting the player-of-the-match award.

Chelsea's match was further disrupted when striker Melvine Malard required treatment 23 minutes later, prompting a second change before half-time and leading Bompastor to substitute goalscorer Baltimore at the interval for Maika Hamano. Hamano played the ball through to Alyssa Thompson, who was brought down by City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita; Yamashita was shown a straight red card, a dismissal that the BBC report said ended the visitors' comeback hopes. On making that second adjustment, Bompastor said: "We knew going into the second half we only had one substitution slot and we knew Sandy has been playing lots of minutes. "I knew she probably didn't have the legs to go more than maybe 60 minutes and I knew I didn't have more slots after that. I was forced into this one as well. "It paid off and that's good. Sandy was doing well but she knows the reason why we made that decision. "That's the first time I experienced that kind of substitution in the first half. It's good for my own experience."

City manager Andree Jeglertz said he did not think the switch "changed the picture", but the report states Bompastor outmaneuvered him across the 90 minutes as Chelsea defended resolutely to see out the narrow victory. Bompastor admitted she had not fully spoken with Buchanan at full-time but promised to "explain myself to her," adding: "I just told her a few words. My assistant coach Camille Abily will have done that already probably and I think everything will be fine. "I always have good relationships with the players, bring them clarity, and I'm always direct and honest so they have the information. It won't be any different."

Chelsea's attacking threat came largely from wide areas through Ellie Carpenter and Alyssa Thompson, while Vivianne Miedema returned from injury for City and "looked sharp" when she came on in the second half, according to the report; former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes and Sarina Wiegman were in the Stamford Bridge stands to watch.

The victory bumped Chelsea back up to the WSL summit, a point above Manchester City.