On an incredibly windy afternoon in Kingston, Guro Reiten opened the scoring after 17 minutes from the penalty spot and that goal was enough for Sonia Bompastor's side to secure an eighth consecutive league victory and our 12th in all competitions.

The victory against Man United means Chelsea are the only side in the WSL to remain unbeaten this season.

Changes made

Bompastor made six changes to the side who beat Celtic in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, but it was an unchanged XI from the team that defeated Manchester City at Stamford Bridge last Saturday with Hannah Hampton, Nathalie Bjorn, Sandy Baltimore, Erin Cuthbert, Maika Hamano and Mayra Ramirez all returning.

The best opportunity inside the opening stages fell to Chelsea after seven minutes when Cuthbert did well to win the ball back on the edge of the box. She found Hamano who then had her shot from close-range saved by goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

A corner whipped in by Reiten travelled all the way to the back post where Sjoeke Nusken unleashed a powerful strike, but the midfielder's effort flashed just wide of the post.

There was soon another chance for the home side when Reiten sent in another inviting cross from the left flank. Her delivery was met by the head of Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and it dropped the wrong side of the post.

But, the lead was soon found as a penalty was awarded after 16 minutes when Ramirez was brought down by Tullis-Joyce. Our top goalscorer Reiten stepped up for the spot-kick and dispatched it into the bottom corner and beyond the United goalkeeper to make it 1-0.

The visitors' first chance arrived after 37 minutes when Rachel Williams looked to curl a cross from outside the box towards Celin Bizet, but she could not find her team-mate and the ball dropped well wide of Hampton's far post.

In the dying stages of the first half, a superbly timed interception from our captain Millie Bright cut out Geyse from close-range, before the resulting corner was cleared and the Blues looked to hit on the counter attack but it came to nothing.

A goal to the good

Five minutes after the interval, the visitors registered their first shot on target and it was met by a fully-stretched Hampton who pushed Geyse's looping deflected effort from long-range past the post, before the Blues cleared the subsequent corner.

We looked to add to our advantage through Ramirez who did incredibly well to work the ball into the box before unleashing a powerful strike that called Tullis-Joyce into action, with the United goalkeeper having to get down low at her near post.

The home side then fashioned two more opportunities to extend the lead. Cuthbert saw her strike pushed to safety by the Man United goalkeeper, before moments later Bjorn's header from a corner deflected just wide.

Next Rytting Kaneryd latched on to a loose pass in the final third, worked her way into the box and called Tullis-Joyce into action once again, forcing her into a save from close range. From the resulting corner, Bronze connected with the ball with her chest, but could only direct it wide of the post.

The Blues were awarded a free-kick with just over 15 minutes to go when Cuthbert was hauled down by Dominique Janssen. The ball bounced around the box following the delivery from Catarina Macario and Ramirez eventually got a shot away that was gathered by Tullis-Joyce.

Nice play between Rytting Kaneryd and Ramirez in the final minutes of normal time almost resulted in our second of the afternoon, but after the latter received the ball on the cutback, she could only direct it straight at the United shot-stopper.

There was to be late drama at Kingsmeadow as the woodwork denied the visitors an equaliser in the 90th minute. Substitute Melvine Malard showed good feet around the penalty spot and managed to get a powerful shot away which came back off the crossbar, much to the relief of those in blue.

There was late pressure from United but Chelsea saw out the match in reasonably comfortable fashion to extend our winning start to the season to eight league matches.

What it means

We now sit five points clear at the top of the table having won each of our eight matches in the league. Bompastor's side remains the only team in the WSL unbeaten this season.

What next

A number of Blues will now turn their attention to international duty with the domestic season coming to a pause. We return to WSL action on 8 December when we host Brighton & Hove Albion at Kingsmeadow.

The teams

Chelsea: Hampton; Bronze, Bright, Bjorn, Baltimore; Nusken, Cuthbert; Reiten (Beever-Jones 56), Hamano (Macario 56), Rytting Kaneryd; Ramirez
Unused substitutes: Musovic, Lawrence, Perisset, Mpome, Bernabe, Kaptein, Jean-Francois
Scorers: Reiten 17
Booked: Cutbert 90+6

Man United: Tullis-Joyce; Riviere, Le Tissier, Turner, George (Sandberg 90+3), Geyse, Awujo (Ladd 89), Janssen, Bizet (Galton 61), Clinton, Williams (Malard 61)
Unused substitutes: Middleton-Patel, Miyazawa, Watson, Simpson
Booked: Tullis-Joyce 16, Williams 30, Clinton 40, Janssen 74