Chelsea Women maintained their 100% home record to produce one of the high-scoring football results of the weekend in the Women’s Super League. For the defending champions, the situation is straightforward: if they win their final four matches, they will keep the Women’s Super League championship, regardless of what happens elsewhere. With two games remaining, Chelsea has now moved ahead of Manchester City in the standings after the latter’s shocking loss to Liverpool earlier in the day. Manchester City currently trails leaders Manchester United by four points.
Guro Reiten opened the scoring in the first half with a magnificent angled drive (12), and the hosts were in complete control after goals from Sam Kerr at the back post (25) and Pernille Harder at the 33-minute mark. As soon as Sophie Ingle flicked Jessie Fleming’s pass into the bottom left corner of Courtney Brosnan’s net in the 44th minute and Fleming tucked in Harder’s cross two minutes later, things for Everton, who were unfairly punished throughout a relentless first half, swiftly became worse.
Despite a heroic effort in the second half, Harder and Erin Cuthbert finished off a merciless offensive performance to further humiliate Everton late in the game as the Blues made another significant step towards WSL gold. With Chelsea facing Manchester United in the FA Cup final at a sold-out Wembley Stadium only one week away, Kerr’s early retirement due to an ankle injury was the only blemish on an otherwise productive afternoon in west London.
Due to a “Camp Nou hangover,” as their manager put it, Emma Hayes’ team struggled to defeat Everton’s Merseyside rivals Liverpool midweek. However, four days later, Chelsea was back to its devastating best. 60 seconds after replacing Kerr, Harder scored on her very first touch, making it quite evident that the Blues were set on proving why they are the favorites to win the WSL for a fourth straight season.
With seven goals surrendered, Everton had their worst road performance of the season. Despite a strong start, the team was unable to gain control of the game. The only period of the game that offered Brian Sorensen any respite was the first 20 minutes, which Hayes, a famously strict taskmaster, nonetheless managed to criticize, calling it “unacceptable” after the final whistle. Before Kerr rose unchallenged at the back post to direct Niamh Charles’ lofted pass past Brosnan for her 11th league goal of the season, Reiten’s well-executed first goal proved to be the best of the lot.
After what looked to be a rough landing, the striker was replaced by Harder, who scored with her very first touch after coming off the bench, reportedly as a precaution. Ingle scored on Fleming’s infield pass 10 minutes later, but Harder still had time to switch roles and put the ball on for Fleming to score on a precise cutback just before halftime. After the interval, the Toffees put up a fight even though they knew the outcome was beyond their control, but Harder scored twice in the closing 10 minutes, and Cuthbert sealed the victory in extra time.
“I felt like we had a tough time controlling the game over the opening 20 minutes. We had to change. We were quite methodical, and our effectiveness gave us the upper hand. The first 20 minutes of the performance were poor,” Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes said. “We put a lot of effort into solving complex problems. We did make progress, and we felt better after the break. It involves reaching your seasonal peak at the appropriate times. We have been chasing the league all year, so we must be flawless. We needed to get going after a performance like this. Everyone wants to play, especially with a cup final the following week. Without Pernille Harder, we have lost several opportunities to score. In general, we were considerably more rested [on Sunday] than we were at midweek.”
“We actually had a great start, but after the first goal, everything started to crumble. They attacked with a great deal of ruthlessness. It wasn’t good enough on our end, and that’s my fault,” Everton Women boss Brian Sorensen said. “At halftime, we made an effort to adjust and apply a slightly different pressure that was more effective, but defensively, we ultimately fell short. I don’t believe our season should be judged by this one game. We’ve had a good season and are developing a new group and identity. According to the statistics, possession was virtually evenly split, allowing us to hold the ball against the better opponents.”
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