Greenwood free-kick keeps City perfect at Charlton
Manchester City kept their winning start in the Women's Super League with a 1-0 win away to Charlton on 26 September 2026. Alex Greenwood scored the only goal of the game in the 36th minute. It was a tight contest settled by one moment of quality.
Greenwood, City's captain and central defender, curled home a free-kick to put the visitors ahead and they held that lead to the final whistle BBC Sport. The Women's Super League is the top division of women's football in England. City travelled as the team everyone is trying to catch.
They are the reigning champions. City were crowned winners of the 2025/26 Barclays Women's Super League in May Manchester City. That title ended Chelsea's six-year hold on the league ESPN. Greenwood became only the second City captain to lift the trophy.
That standing was clear in mid-September, when City sat No. 1 in the CBS Sports WSL Power Rankings with Chelsea at No. 2 CBS Sports. The trip to Charlton was another test of that position. A narrow away win kept the early momentum intact.
It is a stronger opening than last season produced. City began the 2025/26 campaign with a 2-1 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. That match on 5 September 2025 was Andrée Jeglertz's first competitive game as City head coach, and Chelsea won it with goals from Aggie Beever-Jones and Maika Hamano Manchester City.
Greenwood left her mark on that defeat too. She hit the crossbar with a first-half free-kick before another of her free-kicks ricocheted into the net off Chelsea defender Niamh Charles. A free-kick is a free shot at goal awarded after a foul, and her delivery from those dead balls has become one of City's most reliable weapons. Twelve months on, one of them decided a match outright.
What makes this stand out is the simplicity of it. Last September brought frustration in London. This September brought control and a clean sheet. City also showed last spring they can win tight, with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool in early May during the title run. Those are the games that keep a defence of a league title on track.
For fans, this means the new season is moving as champions would want. Early away days are often unglamorous and tense. They give strangers on the same end something shared to carry home. City found the moment that mattered, and Greenwood provided it again.
