Chelsea continued their strong form with victory against Leicester in a scintillating encounter in south‑west London. Emma Hayes’s side got off to a rapid start with an early goal from Lauren James and an own goal from Courtney Nevin. Leicester’s resilience, however, shone through when Jutta Rantala scored before Sam Tierney cancelled out Sam Kerr’s restoration of the deficit. James and Aggie Beever-Jones added two further goals in the second half to make sure of the three points.
Despite being frustrated by elements of her team’s performance, Hayes was proud of the way they have come through an intense run of games. “It was maybe too good a start,” she said. “There were two gifted goals for us so sometimes you think it’s going to be one of those days.
“Nine times out of 10 the opposite happens. In fact, almost in every football match I’ve coached, going 2-0 up so early is such a terrible score in some respects because you get sloppy. We won 30% of our duels in the first half; that was a season low for us. So, for me, all the little things were poor. But I will not focus on them because the team have been tremendous this entire block. Once again, we looked threatening going forward and we got a variety of goalscorers.”
The Blues returned to Kingsmeadow for the first time in almost a month. They are the only team with an unbeaten record in the Women’s Super League, having also defeated a resilient Paris FC in Europe on Thursday. The Chelsea manager has been outspoken in recent weeks on player loading and rang the changes. Sophie Ingle, Ève Périsset, Fran Kirby and Maren Mjelde came in to bring fresh energy.
They faced a Leicester team that have been enjoying a turnaround in fortunes. The Foxes have impressed in these early months with their brave, aggressive football and came into this fixture sitting in seventh. Willie Kirk also made a handful of changes from the side that had drawn with Spurs, with Aimee Palmer, Julie Thibaud and Aileen Whelan starting.
It was a rampant Chelsea who came out of the blocks, any fears of tiredness from their midweek exploits fading fast. Within five minutes of the whistle, they were two goals ahead due to a combination of ruthless forward play and loose defending. For the first, James snuck in front of Thibaud as Tierney sent a pass backwards. She raced towards the box and made no mistake with the finish past Janina Leitzig.
Chelsea pounced again shortly after with James displaying her electric pace once more. Leitzig got a good hand to the shot but could only parry it on to Nevin and it ricocheted off the defender into the net.
There was evident consternation in the Leicester ranks as the game appeared to be running away from them as Chelsea were able to force the turnovers and slice through their defensive line at ease.
A pause in play, however, allowed the visitors to regroup and they began to settle. Their transitional play has been a strong asset and it was through this that they were starting to find some joy. With almost half an hour played, they had pulled themselves back into the fixture. Lena Petermann turned smoothly to feed Rantala who fired clinically past Ann-Katrin Berger.
It was a goal that levelled the encounter and Rantala had an opportunity to add another, dragging her shot wide from distance. Chelsea, though, were always dangerous and went through the gears once more. Erin Cuthbert had a goal disallowed for offside moments before Kerr extended the home side’s lead once again. Niamh Charles, enjoying an impressive season, showed her strength to hold off Catherine Bott. She worked space to direct in a low cross for the Chelsea forward to turn it home unmarked.
Leicester, however, showed their stubbornness once more just before the break. When Petermann broke through the Chelsea defensive line, Berger rushed out of her box to rashly take the forward down. Palmer, known for her set-piece ability, stepped up to crash a sweetly struck attempt off the woodwork with Tierney first to react at the near post to narrow the deficit.
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A pause in proceedings allowed everyone in the stadium to take their breath. The second half failed to reach the same intensity as Chelsea dominated proceedings. James added another with a lifted finish with half an hour to play before Beever-Jones added a fifth as the clock wound towards the final whistle. It was a comfortable scoreline in the end for Hayes’ side who retained their place at the top of the table before the international break.
