Here’s the match report. Well done to Chelsea, and good night.
Chelsea joy.
A LAST-GASP WIN! 😍#CFCW pic.twitter.com/vrIM13onvR
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) May 3, 2023
And pride in defeat for Liverpool, and their outstanding debutant goalkeeper, Faye Kirby, who took the player of the match award.
Outstanding tonight, @fayekirby_ 👏 pic.twitter.com/ewx7zGKa6C
— Liverpool FC Women (@LiverpoolFCW) May 3, 2023
A word too for Guro Reiten, who was superb for Chelsea.
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The victorious Chelsea manager Emma Hayes speaks to the BBC: “We had to get back into being in the WSL … we’ve been in the Champions League, FA Cup … you could see we were asleep, first 10 minutes, and we conceded. We’ve had to dig it out, and we’ve done that.”
Did she think the three points were gone? “No. I don’t think like that. I know we’ll take it to the end … I was thinking at the start, it was a hangover from Camp Nou … it took us a while to get our legs going. We brought on some quality in the second half and that made a difference.
“Sam Kerr is critical … But I thought Jessie Fleming, who hit the shot [before the winner], had an excellent game. But Sam did what she’s done many times for this team, and popped up with the winner.
“When you get to this stage [of the WSL season], you’ve got to dig out results, and I’m confident we can keep doing it.”
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Faye Kirby, the 19-year-old Liverpool goalkeeper, was named player of the match on her league debut. She speaks to the BBC:
“It’s a special occasion for me and my family … the girls put in a big shift. We put in a big shift and I think we deserved at least a draw … We’ve got a three-game week, so we’ve just got to move on, and build from today.
“Obviously [the positive performance] lifts me, and the team. I’ve just got to keep working and keep doing what I’m doing.”
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Regard, the latest WSL table.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 19 | 39 | 47 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 19 | 26 | 44 |
| 3 | Chelsea Women | 17 | 29 | 43 |
| 4 | Arsenal Women | 17 | 29 | 38 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 19 | 3 | 30 |
| 6 | Everton Women | 18 | 3 | 27 |
| 7 | Liverpool FC Women | 19 | -15 | 19 |
| 8 | West Ham Women | 18 | -17 | 17 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 19 | -16 | 14 |
| 10 | Leicester Women | 18 | -26 | 13 |
| 11 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 18 | -32 | 13 |
| 12 | Reading Women | 19 | -23 | 11 |
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On dayboo, Kirby was very good in goal for Liverpool. But Chelsea just have so many options in attack. Rather like the men’s team, just a lot, lot, better coached and organised.
That was entertaining – and very tense, if you happen to be a fan of either side. Reiten was incredibly good for Chelsea, on the left wing, an absolutely constant threat. Bonner was an absolute rock at the heart of Liverpool’s defence, and certainly didn’t deserve to finish a loser … but neither did any of the Liverpool players.
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Full time! Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
Chelsea get over the line … only just. But they win.
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97 min: Liverpool do manage to work their way to the edge of the Chelsea box. But the hosts get the ball clear. Carter then puts boot to ball when Liverpool come again.
96 min: Liverpool are boxed in. They cannot get into Chelsea’s half. And Chelsea, when they get the ball, are taking it to the corner flag.
95 min: Emma Hayes looks on, slightly less anxiously now.
94 min: Chelsea, if anyone, are the team that is going to score another. Kerr is fouled down in the corner, deep in Liverpool territory.
92 min: Kaneryd tees up Harder for Chelsea, who squeezes a shot wide.
90 min: There will be eight minutes of injury time. After all the concerns about perceived time-wasting, now they’ve got the second goal, Chelsea would rather see a bit less time added on than that. But can Liverpool make any inroads after this massive defensive shift they’ve put in – it would seem to no avail?
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After Cankovic touches the ball back to her, following a cross from the Chelsea right, Fleming hits a wonderful, powerful, swerving shot, first-time from the edge of the area, that deserves to be a goal … but it bounces flush back off an upright with the Liverpool goalie Kirby well beaten!
Thankfully from Chelsea’s point of view, though, Kerr is well placed to control the ball and tuck it into an empty net! Chelsea, it appears, have found the winner right at the end! Kerr looks relieved, more then anything, as she celebrates with her teammates.
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Goal! 86 min: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool (Kerr)
It’s in there!
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85 min: Into the last five minutes, the score locked at 1-1. Can Chelsea find a winner? Can Liverpool sneak a winner?
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82 min: Reiten sprints down the left again and clips the ball straight into the net from an angle with Kirby, in goal, moving to anticipate the cross! But she’s ruled offside … and on replay, she looks a mile onside. There is no VAR. How important might that be … Was it a cross or a shot? A cross, I fancy, but perhaps we’ll never know.
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80 min: Johanna Rytting Kaneryd has just come on for Chelsea, the last throw of the attacking dice from Hayes. Kearns off for Liverpool, Humphrey comes on.
78 min: Harder lurks at the far post hoping to meet a cross from Cankovic … but Gemma Bonner executes an absolutely fantastic bit of defending, stretching to flick a header herself, stopping her opponent getting an effort on goal. Brilliant stuff. Chelsea win the corner, perhaps incorrectly, but nothing comes of it.
75 min: The minutes tick down. Perisset hits an outswinging corner. Kerr can only head it over. Meanwhile, in the other Premier League, West Ham are holding Manchester City 0-0 at half-time at the Etihad:
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74 min: Harder finds space for a shot from the edge of the box after a strong driving run. She hits it low and hard with her left foot … and it flashes just wide of the far post!
72 min: Reiten – yet again – is a thorn in Liverpool’s side. Specifically their right side. The Norwegian fires a good ball over into the danger zone. But it bounces a bit high for Kerr, who can only fluff an effort over the goal. Kerr looks annoyed. On the bench, Hayes looks very alarmed at how this is unfolding …
69 min: Safe to say that Liverpool are aiming to soak up pressure and hit on the break. Thus far, their defending has been excellent … can they continue to frustrate Emma Hayes’s side? It would be a huge blow to the Blues’ hopes of a fourth title in a row, and a sixth in seven seasons.
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66 min: More defending to do for Liverpool … Chelsea win a corner, and the Reds make two changes before they have a chance to take it – Robe and Stengel come on, Taylor and Van de Sande off.
65 min: Cankovic fizzes a brilliant swerving cross over from the Chelsea right … it bounces fractionally wide of the far post!
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61 min: A glimmer of a chance for Liverpool, with a cross flashing across the Chelsea penalty area. Matt Beard shows his displeasure at the missed opportunity.
Chelsea stream down to the other end, and Leupolz crosses from their right wing. The goalie, Kirby, claims it well. Harder has a shot blocked soon after when Liverpool give it away.
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59 min: Sofie Lundgaard comes on for Holland, who appears to be in considerable discomfort.
58 min: Holland is going to come off. Not sure who for, yet. Now Taylor goes down, clutching her left foot, after a crunching tackle by Leupolz. It may seem like this is Liverpool trying to break the game up, but that was a genuinely nasty challenge by Leupolz, her studs came crashing down on to her opponent’s boot.
55 min: Another Liverpool player is down injured. It’s Holland again. Suspicions of a head injury? Although it looks like there was no impact on this occasion, as she raced back to try and deal with a ball in behind. Kirby, the Liverpool keeper, cleared the ball safely. Perhaps Holland’s injury in the first half has come back.
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54 min: Double change for Chelsea: Cankovic and Harder come on, Cuthbert and James off.
51 min: Reiten again makes a nuisance of herself yet again on the left. When Reiten cuts the ball back, Charles lofts a high ball over for James, who directs a volley goalwards, but she’s offside.
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49 min: Hinds is still receiving treatment. Pernille Harder, fit again after a hamstring injury, is getting ready to come on for Chelsea.
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48 min: Hinds has a coming together with James. Accidental, but painful all the same. There is some wailing from the home fans, who think it’s time-wasting from Liverpool, but that was a genuinely unpleasant knock to the side of Hinds’s head.
Second half kick-off!
Chelsea have two games in hand on Man City and Man Utd, the two teams above them … and they will be determined that they make the most of them, starting with a win in this second half. Can they do it?
In the men’s Premier League, West Ham v Manchester City is here with Scott Murray:
And here is something on Lampard and the Chelsea men’s team:
Half time: Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool
Liverpool’s Matthews fires a wonderful diagonal pass from defence, left to right, for Kearns. Kearns slides a pass to Van de Sanden who is suddenly in on goal … Berger comes out and saves her shot, but the rebound falls kindly for Dowie, but her effort is blocked! That’s half-time.
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45 min + 2: Chelsea have a corner to round off the half. It’s knocked to the near post again from the other side of the pitch – this time, it drops to a defender, and the ball is belted clear.
45 min: We will have four added minutes at the end of the first 45.
That is a super goal: Perisset whips the corner to the near post. Charles knows what’s coming, and darts to meet the delivery, flicking and glancing her header across the face of goal and into the corner of the net on the opposite side. Liverpool had defended so well up to that point, and despite the quality of the delivery and the finish, they will be gutted to have allowed it to happen.
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Goal! 40 min: Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool (Charles)
The corner is met with a fine header at the near post by Niamh Charles, the former Liverpool player, bouncing and nestling in the far corner of the net! It’s all square.
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40 min: After a rest and a drink, Holland is OK to continue. Chelsea attack and James forces a corner.
37 min: Liverpool’s Holland goes down after an aerial challenge with Cuthbert in midfield. It’s a possible head injury, so the referee Abi Byrne stops the match. Both managers bring their players in for a quick chat.
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33 min: The Liverpool coach, Matt Beard, scribbles in his notebook on the bench. Emma Hayes has a glance at her watch. Out on the pitch, Koivisto is booked for taking too long over a throw-in. There were already a few grumbles emanating from the fans with what they think is time-wasting by the visitors. The goalscorer Koivisto looks a bit taken aback – she will have to tread more carefully now.
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30 min: Shanice van de Sanden shows pace and determination to give Chelsea the hurry-up at the back. The hosts play out from their defence successfully, though, and a half chance comes with another cross into the area at the other end of the pitch. Liverpool hold firm again though.
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29 min: It’s a very pleasant evening at Kingsmeadow, by the way, and the pitch is bathed in golden light. A far cry from the frozen-pitch drama of January.
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27 min: Lauren James surges through midfield in a central area. She is crowded out by the ranks of Liverpool defenders.
From a neutral’s perspective, that early goal for Liverpool is A Good Thing. Because Chelsea are swarming forward and looking by far the likelier to score right now, but the visitors continue to defend robustly.
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25 min: Chelsea come forward again, and Fleming sidefoots over the crossbar from close-ish range! She was inside the penalty area, she had time, and as a telly commentator might say: She’ll be disappointed with that.
23 min: Reiten whips a brilliant cross in from the left. She is everywhere. (Well, on the left wing mainly, but everywhere.) Kerr meets the whipped cross with a flick header that is going to nestle in the far corner of the net … but Kirby dives to her left and palms the ball to safety! Good cross, good header, good save: good football.
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22 min: The second part of Harriet Osborn’s email reads as follows:
“On something related only because it’s still football - was on the Valencia-Villarreal match earlier and noticed that, while the broadcast has the Ukrainian flag and “peace” in the score bug all game, the advertising hoardings at Mestalla are advertising what I can only assume is Russian fantasy football, or the Russian answer to the Fifa games. The love of money and all that ...”
20 min: Reiten, again, causes damage down the left wing for Chelsea. She squares for Kerr, low and just outside the six-yard box, but the Australia international scuffs a shot that dribbles past the far post.
19 min: Liverpool’s Dowie tries to catch Berger off her line, cracking an attempted lob from miles out. Berger is in position to catch it comfortably.
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18 min: Matt Beard is pictured on the touchline, issuing instructions to his players. He will be delighted with how they’ve started this match, in defence and attack … but there is plenty more defending to do against this Chelsea side that have strong attacking options everywhere.
16 min: Now Reiten races through on the left for Chelsea! She is one-on-one with Kirby and hits a low left-footed shot, that the Liverpool goalie saves with her feet.
14 min: And there Kerr is: racing on to a classy ball from Cuthbert. She has a sight of goal, and smacks a powerful right-footed shot from an angle … but Bonner makes a fantastic sliding tackle and block all in one.
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13 min: Liverpool exert a bit of pressure at the other end now. Chelsea hold firm. The commentators mention that we have not seen anything of Sam Kerr yet, although it is only a matter of time.
10 min: Lauren James makes a dangerous run and wins a free-kick. Perisset hits it, Kirby gets right behind it and makes the save as the ball is bent over the wall by the Frenchwoman.
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9 min: Chelsea roar forward again now, Reiten getting to the byline this time, and cutting the ball back towards the penalty spot. Liverpool’s Holland is well positioned to belt the low cross to safety, though.
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8 min: Better from Chelsea. Reiten storms in from the left win, attracting three defenders. She lays it off to Cuthbert in a central area … Cuthbert slams a shot goalwards but it’s always rising and sails over the crossbar.
7 min: Chelsea are yet to lay a glove on Liverpool. A hopeful ball is pumped into the visitors’ box from the left, but Kirby, the debutant in goal for the Reds, comes out and claims it easily.
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5 min: Liverpool fan Harriet Osborn emails: “Laws and Stengel in particular seem interesting choices for rotation considering they had so much to do with beating Chelsea when we played them in September.”
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Dowie is released to the byline for Liverpool, down the left. She crosses well, and Kearns is there to try and head it in the middle. It’s just too high, but not to worry – Koivisto arrives at the far post, unmarked, and tucks the ball low beyond Berger.
Goal! 2 min: Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool (Koivisto)
That was quick! A confident start from Liverpool indeed.
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2 min: Liverpool begin confidently, stroking the ball around well, but there is an offside flag up against Dowie early doors.
First half kick-off!
Dowie of Liverpool kicks off.
Matt Beard, Liverpool manager, has made four changes after a 4-0 thumping by Leicester last weekend. “It was a tough debrief on Monday,” he tells the BBC. “At the end of the day we need to react, respond … it’s good we’ve got a game to get that out of the system.”
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The teams are out!
Emma Hayes has a chat with the BBC: “It was a good performance away at Barcelona … we know we have a games accumulating (in the run-in). Today is not the day to freshen the squad up. That day will come.”
Hayes is asked about Fran Kirby: “Surgery went well today, as well as it can do. We tried, we were hopeful we wouldn’t have to go to surgery … fortunately she’ll start to heal from hereonin.”
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Following on from “The King of Rock ‘N’ Roll” in the preamble down there, here’s an even better Prefab Sprout number, because … why not?
Last week, of course, Chelsea crashed out of Europe against Barcelona.
One change is made by Hayes from that painful exit against Barca – the irrepressible Lauren James returns to the starting lineup, with Maren Mjelde out of the squad.
More worrying injury news, for Chelsea and for England:
What does it all mean? This match, that is.
The Women’s Super League table looks like this. A win for Chelsea would see them close to within a point of second-placed Manchester City, and four behind the leaders Manchester United.
Liverpool are seventh, meanwhile, eight points shy of city rivals Everton before tonight.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 19 | 39 | 47 |
| 2 | Man City Women | 19 | 26 | 44 |
| 3 | Chelsea Women | 16 | 28 | 40 |
| 4 | Arsenal Women | 17 | 29 | 38 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 19 | 3 | 30 |
| 6 | Everton Women | 18 | 3 | 27 |
| 7 | Liverpool FC Women | 18 | -14 | 19 |
| 8 | West Ham Women | 18 | -17 | 17 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 19 | -16 | 14 |
| 10 | Leicester Women | 18 | -26 | 13 |
| 11 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 18 | -32 | 13 |
| 12 | Reading Women | 19 | -23 | 11 |
The hot dogs are on Emma Hayes. Or certainly Chelsea, anyway.
Here for the hotdogs, we’re only here for the hotdogs 🎶 🌭 pic.twitter.com/Z3GEOaNrsY
— Chelsea Women Supporters Group (@ChelseaWomenSG) May 3, 2023
You want Talking Points for the last round of WSL fixtures?
Consider it done:
Teams
Chelsea Women: Berger, Perisset, Carter, Eriksson, Charles, Fleming, Leupolz, James, Reiten, Cuthbert, Kerr. Substitutes: Musovic, Ingle, Johanna Kaneryd, Mosegaard-Harder, Abdullina, Cankovic.
Liverpool Women: Kirby, Koivisto, Gemma Bonner, Matthews, Hinds, Holland, Roberts, van de Sanden, Kearns, Taylor, Dowie. Substitutes: Laws, Robe, Lundgaard, Humphrey, Cumings, Stengel.
Your Chelsea! 🔵#CFCW pic.twitter.com/zZmz206Sh4
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) May 3, 2023
Preamble
The original staging of this fixture descended into a bit of farce, back in January, when it was postponed at short notice due to a frozen pitch.
Emma Hayes, the Chelsea Women head coach, wasn’t the only one left extremely dissatisfied with how those events unfolded; plenty of fans travelled for the match only to be disappointed at the very last minute.
There is a silver lining this evening, however, as Hayes’s promise of a free hot dog will come to fruition, if that is the right word, for supporters at this rescheduled game.
‘It’s a small token of appreciation for the fans that came out that day,” Hayes said. “I offered a hot dog not realising we don’t sell hot dogs so we’ve had to source them in.”
Vegan options are available. One hot dog per person, while stocks last.
Kick-off: 7.15pm
