Manchester United v Chelsea LIVE: WSL team news, line-ups and Aston Villa v Man City updates
Chelsea travel to Manchester United in the WSL finale with Manchester City facing Aston Villa as the title race goes to the wire. The champions will be crowned on Saturday with just goal difference splitting the sides in what has been a thrilling battle.
Emma Hayes is hoping to end her Blues dynasty with a title before taking over the US Women’s National Team and tackling the Olympics this summer in Paris.
After a testing couple of months, with defeat to rivals Arsenal in the League Cup final and a crushing loss to Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League semi-finals, Chelsea have shown their resilience and stand 90 minutes away from a famous title triumph. Follow all the action below plus get the latest from both Man Utd v Chelsea and Aston Villa v Man City:
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Ruthless Emma Hayes built a Chelsea dynasty and will fix USA’s ‘arrogance’ and ‘complacency’
“If you don’t improve I’m selling you.”
A young Jess Carter is sat in the middle of a white-walled room at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, a tactics board behind her, a fleet of analysts and fitness staff, all armed with laptops, positioned on the outside, quietly looking in. Carter is chewing gum and looks bored, frustrated to have been hauled aside to hear the same old message. Facing her is Emma Hayes.
“I want you to show every f***ing day that you give a f*** about yourself,” Hayes says. “It’s up to you to decide your future.”
Four years later, it is clear what future Carter decided to choose.
Ruthless Emma Hayes will fix USA’s ‘arrogance’ and ‘complacency’
Hayes has taken charge of the four-time World Cup winners after the shock announcement that she will leave Chelsea at the end of the season
Jack Rathborn18 May 2024 09:00
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Chelsea’s Emma Hayes and the life behind a winning machine
Emma Hayes managed to find a way to reflect on her achievements while seeing the bigger picture. At Wembley last year, as Hayes sat with another winner’s medal around her neck – this time after Chelsea defeated Manchester United to win their third FA Cup in a row – there was a moment where she paused from the relentless of football management and its daily demands to focus on a wider journey. “When I sit at home alone and think about the work we do every day, and the sacrifices we all make, I know I’ve given my life to it,” she reflected.
There can be no arguing with that, not after 12 hugely successful seasons at Chelsea, the years working her way up the coaching ladder in the United States in her mid-20s, the countless hours before then trying to find the bottom rung in England, volunteering in community projects in her local Camden, doing anything she could to earn the coaching badges and certificates. At that stage, there was no identifiable end point, no professional game to aspire to reach. There was only a goal, or even a calling, to make an impact in women’s football, perhaps winning a trophy or two.
Hayes departs now not just as the most successful manager in the modern era of women’s football in England, but as a pioneer and advocate for a game that has changed beyond recognition while she has been at the forefront of it. When Hayes spoke, people listened, and in the years before Chelsea were selling out Stamford Bridge for a women’s game, or England were winning the Euros at Wembley, she shared a vision of where women’s football could get to, what was holding it back. She encouraged others to dream of progress and opportunity.
Emma Hayes and the life behind a winning machine at Chelsea
Emma Hayes will leave Chelsea after 12 years with a remarkable body of work, and a troubled final season can still end with one more Women’s Super League title on Saturday
Jack Rathborn17 May 2024 16:53