KICK-OFFpublished at 15:07 British Summer Time 26 September 2021
Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Off we go again.
Emily Simpkins off for the home side and Megan Connolly on.
West Ham 4-0 Leicester
FT: Brighton 0-1 Aston Villa- BBC Radio Sussex
FT: Tottenham 1-0 Reading
FT: Manchester United 1-6 Chelsea - BBC Two & BBC Radio Manchester
Kirby, Harder, Spence, Fleming & Kerr (2) for champions, Russo has strike deflected
Ellie Thomason, Joe Bradshaw and Matthew Gault
Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Off we go again.
Emily Simpkins off for the home side and Megan Connolly on.
Tottenham 0-0 Reading
We're back under way at the Hive.
Neither side many any changes at the break.
West Ham 0-0 Leicester
The visitors get us under way at Chigwell Construction Stadium!
Here's Chelsea's sixth goal as the defending champions ran riot to end Man Utd's unbeaten run at Leigh Sports Village.
Tottenham 0-0 Reading
Spurs had the better of the first half chances, with four shots on target, but the visitors are throwing their bodies on the line at the Hive to keep the scores level at the break.
HT: Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Nothing to separate these two at the break.
Tottenham 0-0 Reading
How have Spurs not scored there?
First Grace Moloney makes a brilliant sprawling save to deny Kit Graham, then Ria Percival has a shot blocked before Rachel Williams' powerful effort is cleared off the line.
Proper penalty area pinball football there!
Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Clearly Brighton haven't learned from Man Utd's troubles earlier and Aston Villa should be ahead.
Victoria Williams tries to play out from the back, has her pocket picked and Emily Gilelnek has a golden opportunity to open the scoring.
Somehow, Megan Walsh is able to shovel it behind for a corner.
FT: Man Utd 1-6 Chelsea
Kelly Smith
Former England striker on BBC Two
When Chelsea lost the ball, the intent, desire and passion was there.
They wanted to come back after the break and make a statement to the rest of the league.
They’ve done that with six goals today
Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa
Maya Le Tissier escapes down the right for Brighton and fires a delicious low ball across the six-yard line.
Danielle Carter is there but the bounce catches her out and Hannah Hampton dives on it gratefully.
FT: Man Utd 1-6 Chelsea
Chelsea
Chelsea goalscorer Pernille Harder speaking to BBC Two: "It was a great win. 6-1 away at Manchester United is amazing.
"We were so good in transition. Sam Kerr and Fran Kirby are two amazing players and we just have fun playing together.
"One of our biggest strengths this season is the strength of our squad and you see that from the players who came on and had an impact.
"We can get better all the time. We develop every game – we’re better than last season and I think we can keep doing it."
Drew Spence scored Chelsea's fifth just a couple of minutes after coming on.
FT: Man Utd 1-6 Chelsea
Chelsea
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes tells BBC Sport: "I didn't think we were very good to be honest with you. I thought we were poor in the first half by our standards and we were 3-0 up. I expect another level. I think we're a better team than we've ever been. I think we're miles better than we were last year.
"I changed something within the flow of the game because I felt we were getting a bit overloaded. The put Pernille (Harder) in a position where she's at her best to carry balls. She takes time to settle in this country. This pre-season Pernille has been unbelievable. I'm so proud of her for that goal because I know how much she put into it.
On Fran Kirby's goal being offside: "I think I understand we've got to make our officials. To be fair we should have scored sooner. Yes it's clearly offside if you look at the replay and you look at the position of the linesperson. We've got to keep putting money into our officials and support the FA to develop them to the next level and hopefully the technology will follow that."
FT: Man Utd 1-6 Chelsea
Fara Williams
Former England and GB international on BBC Two
Chelsea were phenomenal today.
The attitude to press together was fantastic. They set the traps for Manchester United and were all over them from the beginning.
You wouldn’t know they’d been on an international break and only just come back together in the last couple of days.
FT: Man Utd 1-6 Chelsea
Rachel Brown-Finnis
Ex-England goalkeeper on BBC Two
Chelsea were just far too much for Man Utd. Too much quality, too much energy.
A well-oiled gameplan with precision executed brilliantly from Emma Hayes's side.
For Manchester United, there are some positives but they came up against a side who were up for the quadruple last season.
Tottenham 0-0 Reading
Molly Bartrip breathes a sigh of relief after slipping and sending Deanne Rose through one-on-one with Rebecca Spencer.
The Spurs goalkeeper pulls off a great save to deny the Canadian forward.
Man Utd 1-6 Chelsea
A dominant display from start to finish for the defending champions.
The hosts had their chances but were poor in front of goal and let themselves down with their defending at times.
Man Utd 1-6 Chelsea
Rachel Brown-Finnis
Ex-England goalkeeper on BBC Two
This'll hurt Manchester United, this'll hurt Mark Skinner, this'll hurt his team.
But Chelsea have been absolutely outstanding. The five substitutes they've made have had such an impact.
Three goals in the first half, three goals in the second.
At one stage, we were talking about Man Utd coming into this game. But Emma Hayes' side have emphatically answered that question.
Jessie Fleming
Another one!
Beth England wins the ball around the halfway line and there's some nice interchange between her and Drew Spence. Spence's shot is blocked by Mary Earps and Jessie Fleming fires into the top corner from the rebound.
Ruthless.
Man Utd 1-5 Chelsea
Kirsty Hanson has gone to ground and she looks like she's in some serious discomfort.
She slid in to take the ball away from Jonna Andersson and looks to have hurt her knee.