Manchester City Women 2-0 Chelsea Ladies: Women's Super League One - as it happened Read more

A convincing victory against the reigning champions gave Manchester City their first Women’s Super League title and with it a hint that they could go on to dominate the English game as Arsenal did in the first decade of the century.

City played out the match on Sunday like the Gunners in their pomp, taking whatever their opponents could throw at them while always looking likely to push forward and score goals.

They went ahead fortuitously through the Chelsea captain Katie Chapman’s 35th‑minute own goal, and the lead was doubled by the striker Toni Duggan’s 50th‑minute penalty. But more goals could and should have followed as they eased to victory against what is currently the country’s second best team.

The once best team Arsenal were top‑flight winners in nine successive seasons to 2012, two years before City pumped finance and facilities into the women’s side of the club to set up a three‑year run of significant progress.

They won the WSL’s Continental Cup in their first campaign – beating Arsenal in the final – finished runners-up last year to clinch a place in the Champions League this season, and this year have not only won the league but will contest the Continental Cup final against Birmingham City next week.

The captain, Steph Houghton, twice a WSL winner with Arsenal before joining City in 2014, said: “This tops those two with Arsenal because I’ve been here since day one, I’m captain and I’ve been involved in every game.

“It’s a very special feeling, and to win it on our own ground in front of a record crowd [4,096] was unbelievable. We’ve progressed tremendously over these last three years and we’ve got to make sure now that we maintain it. Can we be dominant like Arsenal were? I’d like to think so. We’ve certainly got the foundations to build on and I think we’ve got some very exciting times to look forward to.”

City have lost only one game all season, against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, but they gained a three-point revenge with a 2-0 away league victory against the champions and deservedly lifted the trophy on Sunday.

Chelsea, needing to take three points to keep alive their hopes of winning the league for a second successive season, attacked in numbers during the early stages but without causing the home defence any problems.

City went close to taking the lead when the striker Jane Ross had a ninth-minute header acrobatically saved by the goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer.

A glancing header by the midfielder Jill Scott bounced off Chapman into the net for the opener, and Duggan neatly tucked home her penalty for the second goal after the right-back Lucy Bronze had been fouled by the defender Gilly Flaherty.

Nikita Parris and the substitute Kosovare Asllani both wasted chances to increase the lead, while at the other end Beth England shot weakly at Karen Bardsley from Chelsea’s only real opening of the match.

Emma Hayes, the Chelsea manager, said: “Congratulations to Manchester City, they deserved to win the league. They’ve been the dominant side throughout the season, they’ve conceded the fewest number of goals and they’ve been highly efficient.”

City have conceded just three goals in 15 league games and their manager, Nick Cushing, said: “It’s been a great season. We didn’t think we would win the league in our first year, we thought we might last year and pushed Chelsea all the way, but this year we had a real desire and we’ve done it. It feels really good, and the aim now is to continue growing this team.”