Chelsea’s manager, Emma Hayes, and her Manchester City counterpart, Nick Cushing, followed their goalless draw at Kingsmeadow by bemoaning a gruelling schedule that meant the title heavyweights met in the first game of the season only days after World Cup qualifiers.

“It’s a first game of the season. Players have been back for two days. How can you prepare for a new season when players have been elsewhere?” said Hayes, who rued two dropped points after a Ji So-yun chance left her kicking the air on the touchline.

Despite that the game began with impressive intensity. In the rapid start England’s and City’s Georgia Stanway, joint-top scorer at the Under-20s World Cup, found space on the right but her shot at Hedvig Lindahl was tame. Moments later the pacy Chelsea forward Ramona Bachmann drove into the City box only to be crowded out before she could get her shot away.

Cushing was quick to praise the pace of the game. “Both teams and both sets of players were exceptional and the intensity they played at off the back of that [international break] is a credit to them.”

Meanwhile Hayes deflected attention from talk of this being a clash between the future champions and their challengers, instead praising Arsenal, who beat Liverpool 5-0 at Borehamwood, as the team to watch. She said: “I think it’s about time everybody talked about Arsenal as a team that has arrived. We’re playing catch- up to Arsenal.” Both sides fielded a number of their summer acquisitions and initially Chelsea, reigning champions, clearly missed the organising and rallying presence of retired Chelsea captain Katie Chapman – now retired – at the back.

City focused on playing the ball out from their goalkeeper, Karen Bardsley, their slick passing giving them an impressive 57% possession in the first half. After 20 minutes Chelsea started to stretch their legs, Sophie Ingle, Karen Mjelde and Ji able to find more and more space between the City lines.

As Ji started to win the midfield battle, she was able to pick off a City ball floated towards the towering Jill Scott, race into the box and twist past three sky blue shirts to slip the ball wide to Karen Carney but the shot, again, sailed over.

Beth England – on loan at Liverpool last season – was also bright on Chelsea’s right. Her perfect cross a minute from half-time fell tastily at the feet of Ji at the far post before Steph Houghton got a foot in and poked it away for a corner.

At half-time Cushing replaced the league debutante Lauren Hemp, signed from Bristol City in the summer, with the Denmark forward Nadia Nadim as City looked to regain the advantage and make the most of their dominance in possession.

Keeping Ji off the ball was key for them and they started to find a way to play round the South Korean. With the experience of Nadim up front giving them a more direct threat and ability to hold up the ball, City began to pile forward in numbers.

Magdalena Eriksson’s badly timed tackle on Stanway provided City’s first chance to test Lindahl but Houghton’s powerful header from the resulting free-kick was wide of the Swede’s goal.

Again it was Houghton looking to make the breakthrough on the hour but her curling shot went inches over the bar.

In the top tier of women’s football fine margins matter. No team has won the WSL having lost more than two games in a season.

Last season this fixture finished scoreless while in Manchester in February Chelsea’s 2-0 lead was undone by goals from Nikita Parris and Georgia Stanway.

With City troubling Jess Carter, who has joined from Birmingham, and looking the more likely to break the deadlock, Hayes rang the changes. Ingle, on her debut, and England, who scored 10 goals in 16 games for Liverpool last season, made way for the Chelsea stalwarts Fran Kirby and Drew Spence, with Kirby, the PFA player of the year, given a particularly warm welcome by the Kingsmeadow crowd.

Quick Guide Sigworth hits five as United rout Villa 12-0 in Championship Show Manchester United made a real statement of intent as they began their FA Women’s Championship campaign with a 12-0 hammering of Aston Villa. Jess Sigworth ran riot as she scored five goals, while Lauren James and Kirsty Hanson grabbed braces in the rout. Katie Zalem, Mollie Green and Ella Toone also bagged as Villa had no answer to United’s superiority. United, managed by the former England international Casey Stoney, are playing their first season since being reformed after they were originally disbanded in 2005. They won one and lost one of their first two Continental Tyres League Cup games but began their league challenge in some style. In the Super League, there was also an enjoyable day for Arsenal as Vivianne Miedema’s hat-trick fired them to a dream start in a 5-0 thrashing of Liverpool. Miedema scored two and made goals for Lisa Evans and Kim Little as the Gunners stormed to a 4-0 half-time lead and then made sure she took the match ball home after the break. It means Reds boss Neil Redfearn is waiting for his first win and goal since taking over earlier in the summer, having lost to Manchester United in the League Cup. PA

With her threat and fresh legs, Chelsea once again began to claw their way back into the contest. However, even last season’s top scorer could not find the moment of magic, or provoke the mistake needed, to grab the win and the spoils were shared.

Carney argued that her side “should have nicked it” while City’s Jen Beattie was pleased with the point away from home, saying: “We can’t be overly disappointed with that. We were hoping to win but it’s better than zero.”