Chelsea traveled to Chigwell Construction Stadium for a mid-week clash against West Ham United.
Following the victory, the Blues are now two points clear of Manchester United at the top of the table heading into the final game weeks of the season.
Line ups
West Ham United: Arnold; Shimizu, Fisk, Tysiak (Snerle, 55’), Cissoko, Smith, Evans (Thestrup, 65’), Parker, Longhurst, Brynjarsdóttir (Hayashi, 65’) and Asseyi (Atkinson, 81’).
Unused Subs: Ademiluyi, Cooke, Denton, Hillyerd and Houssein.
Chelsea: Mušović; Eriksson, Charles (Abdullina, 81’), Carter, Ingle, Buchanan, Fleming (Cuthbert, 69’), Kaneryd, Čanković (James, 69’), Harder (Reiten, 69’) and Kerr (Svitková, 81’).
Unused Subs: Berger, Leupolz, Mjelde and Périsset.
How it unfolded
Chelsea opened the scoring inside 15 minutes. The first goal came after West Ham blocked an effort by Sam Kerr. Her deflected shot was met by the on-rushing Niamh Charles, who was on hand to tap in the rebound on her 100th WSL appearance.
The Blues were dominant since going ahead. Soon after, Pernille Harder sent in a volleyed effort. It forced Mackenzie Arnold into making a finger-tip save to deny the Chelsea striker.
Eventually, Paul Konchesky’s side grew in confidence after seeing off Chelsea’s early pressure. They came close to grabbing an equaliser before halftime when Lisa Evans sent in a dangerous cross. Viviane Asseyi met the ball but her header went just wide of the target.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe second half brought a goal two minutes after the restart. A Chelsea corner was cleared but only as far as Sophie Ingle, who picked out team-mate Pernille Harder on the edge of the box. Harder made no mistake in finding the back of the net from a few yards out.
Just after the hour mark, Chelsea scored a third to put the game to bed. The goal came from another set piece when captain Magdalena Eriksson rose highest at the near-post following the corner. Her header was flicked onto the post by Arnold, but Ingle was alert and nodded in the rebound.
To round off the goal-scoring, second-half substitute Erin Cuthbert got herself on the score sheet in extra time. Her goal came from a neat layoff by Kaneryd at the edge of the box. As a result, Chelsea defeated West Ham 4-0 and secured their place at the top of the WSL table for another week.
Coming up next
Heading into the penultimate games of the WSL season, Chelsea welcome rivals Arsenal to Kingsmeadow on Sunday, May 21, at 12:30 p.m. BST. The North West London Derby is available to watch on BBC Two in the UK, Paramount+ in the US, and The FA Player in other international territories.
That same day, West Ham travel to King Power Stadium to face Leicester City at 3 p.m. BST. The Hammers will look to ensure their WSL safety under Paul Konchesky. You can stream the match live on The FA Player.
