Chelsea moved a step closer to a fourth successive Women’s Super League title with a 4-0 defeat of West Ham moving them two points clear of Manchester United at the top of the table.
Emma Hayes had been dismissive of any fatigue as a result of Sunday’s FA Cup final defeat of Manchester United but she made seven changes to the team, with goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, defenders Eve Perisset and Maren Mjelde, midfielders Melanie Leupolz and Erin Cuthbert and forwards Lauren James and Guro Reiten all rested.
For West Ham, who had gone nine games without a win prior to this, there were three changes to the side that suffered defeat to Brighton, with Anouk Denton, Izzy Atkinson and Emma Snerle dropping to the bench in favour of Amber Tysiak, Risa Shimizu and Kirsty Smith.
Chelsea were dominant from the off and could have had a penalty within the opening two minutes after Hawa Cissoko appeared to commit a handball offence, but the referee waved away appeals.
It took 13 minutes for the Blues to make the breakthrough, with Sam Kerr’s shot blocked and Niamh Charles firing the loose ball beyond Mackenzie Arnold. It was a business-like performance from Chelsea, with the more serious test awaiting them at Kingsmeadow on Sunday, where a win against Arsenal will be enough to ensure a third successive league and FA Cup double should Manchester United not beat Manchester City in the late kick-off on the same day.
“We’ve been chasing the whole year so being on top, we just have to keep chalking off the games,” said Hayes. “The next game we’re preparing for is against a team who have also had a tremendous season so I can’t wait, to be honest.”
The difference maker on Sunday, Pernille Harder, who came off the bench to set up Kerr’s winner, forced a fine low save from Arnold as Chelsea sought a second, meeting Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s cross after she had been fed by a driving run from the halfway line by Kerr.
Hayes’s side would have to wait until after the break to extend their lead, a defence-splitting pass from Sophie Ingle collected by Harder and drilled low into the far corner.
Ingle, a similarly influential substitute on Sunday, scored the third, heading into the roof of the net after Arnold had done well to save Magda Eriksson’s header from a corner.
West Ham went close to pulling one back, with Zecira Musovic caught out by substitute Amalie Thestrup but Jess Carter was there to clear off the line and maintain their clean sheet.
Cuthbert scored the fourth in added time, powering in from the edge of the box to extend their goal difference advantage over United to four.
In the race for Champions League football, third-place Arsenal’s 4-1 victory over Everton was marred by another injury, this time to the influential midfielder Lia Wälti. The 30-year-old, who signed a contract extension last week, was carried off on a stretcher shortly after half-time after the Chelsea loanee Aggie Beever-Jones ploughed into her ankle with a high foot. It was reckless and the reaction of players around the fallen Wälti hinted at the severity of the impact.
The 19-year-old forward had her yellow upgraded to a straight red for the incident while furious Arsenal players regrouped in a huddle, the team having already lost Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema to ACL injuries and Kim Little, Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley for significant chunks of the season.
After the match, Everton released a statement from “devastated” Beever-Jones. The forward said her “lunge resulted in a bad but unintentionally reckless challenge” and that she was “so sorry”. “I hope the injury is not too serious and that you make a fast and full recovery.”
• This article was amended on 18 May 2023. An earlier version referred to Chelsea being on course for a third successive WSL title, when it would in fact be a fourth successive WSL title.
