City impressed in both attack and defence to down the reigning champions and stretch their lead at the top of the table to six points.
The left-back broke the deadlock in Staines with a crisp finish across Hedvig Lindahl, opening her City account in the process – a feat she dedicated to her teammates, who rushed to congratulate her.
“I’ve got a big smile on my face but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my team,” she told mcfc.co.uk.
“It was a great build-up goal from right to left and I was just in the right place so I’m happy.
“Toni Duggan’s proud of me for the finish - it’s put me in her good books! I’m just delighted with the three points.”
The England star added she feels Nick Cushing’s side have unlocked a new weapon - the ability to win ugly, though they were thoroughly deserving of their triumph against Emma Hayes’ side.
“It was a good game,” she reflected. “Chelsea made it hard for us but we played brilliantly.
“We showed that we can play both sides - we can get the ball down and we can also play the nitty-gritty side of the game.
“We’ve been working hard as a team - we like to get the ball down and play attractive football but we also respect the defensive side just as much.
“It’s early in the season but our aim was to get points on the board early on because that’s what killed us last season.
“We’ve done that and we want to keep winning and keeping clean sheets.”
Stokes also paid tribute to the City faithful, who travelled in numbers to Staines for the Thursday night kick-off and sang their hearts out throughout.
“The fans are brilliant,” she declared. “They’re so loud and we do hear them - I hope they keep it up because it really does help.
“We’ve got Liverpool next which will be another tough game. We want to go there and get another win to keep our record of maximum points going into the break.”
