Chelsea held off Manchester City to begin defence of their Women's Super League title with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues looked set for a routine victory just past the hour mark when Maika Hamano swept home to add to Aggie Beever-Jones' first-half strike, the match ended with a wave of City pressure in search of what would have been a deserved point.

Niamh Charles' own goal had sparked hope of rescuing a draw for head coach Andree Jeglertz, but the Swede lost his first match in charge.

There was positive news for home fans before kick-off when Sam Kerr was named on the bench following an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which had seen her not play competitively for Chelsea since January 2024.

Her side almost lead after 17 minutes, Sandy Baltimore beating Kerstin Casparij with a delightful turn and deflected shot 10 yards out, which drew an outstanding reflex save from goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita. A closer look revealed the ball had struck the outstretched arm of Gracie Prior, who was fortune the action evaded the attention of the referee.

The breakthrough came on the half-hour mark when Ellie Carpenter outpaced Alex Greenwood down the right and crossed low to find Beever-Jones arriving in the box in between Prior and Jade Rose to side-foot home.

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Hannah Hampton made her first serious contribution of the season to deny City an instant equaliser, narrowing the angle well to keep out Khadija Shaw's strike, though she was helpless minutes later when England team-mate Greenwood's excellent free-kick smashed against the crossbar and away to safety.

Vivianne Miedema lashed inches wide after a strong bust forward in the final moments of the half as City finished the opening period strongly.

Yui Hasegawa's outrageous back-heel flashed inches wide of Hampton's far post at the start of the second half, a fabulous piece of improvisation as the ball arrived in the box slightly behind her.

Beever-Jones then skewed horribly wide in search of a second goal in a rare Chelsea attack, failing to take advantage of the unmarked Carpenter who had streaked into space outside of her.

City had been let off but the reprieve was short-lived. In the 64th minute, Erin Cuthbert bumped Greenwood off the ball far too easily before delivering centrally for Hamano to stride on to the ball and sweep in Chelsea's second.

Charles headed Greenwood's free kick past her own goalkeeper to hand City a lifeline 20 minutes from time, then with the home side tottering Shaw sent a vicious effort goalwards which skimmed the roof of the net.

The match ended with the concerning sight of City's Lily Murphy being carried off the pitch in visible discomfort, whilst Greenwood was also forced off injured late on.