For any fan of England’s Lionesses, the Manchester derby was the place to be on March 23. The nation’s biggest names were on show at the Etihad Stadium as more than 40,000 packed in to watch Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp’s Manchester City defeat Mary Earps and Ella Toone’s Manchester United. But the cast for this entertaining affair was missing one big star – Chloe Kelly.
The England winger wasn’t injured, nor was she suspended. Instead, Mary Fowler’s impressive performances in a starting role have relegated Kelly to the bench for City’s last four games. Against United, she was an unused substitute for the first time in the Women’s Super League since May 2018.
"It's just basically we have good players,” head coach Gareth Taylor said afterwards, asked why Kelly has dropped out of his XI. “We put Mary into the FA Cup game, she scores. She scores against Brighton last week. Mary's a very good player. Of course, the demands are really high of what we ask for, in goals and assists from those players, without it being all about that. But Mary has taken her opportunity and now what Chloe has to do is work hard every day in training to be ready.”
Given Kelly has been a near-constant starter in the WSL since leaving Arsenal for Everton back in 2017, it's a new situation for her to be in. But as England duty looms, she has a chance to remind everyone what she is capable of.
