Chelsea will leapfrog Manchester United into first place in the WSL desk in the event that they win their league subsequent sport, having cut the hole on the present leaders to only a single point by thrashing Leicester.
Emma Hayes’ reigning champions had fallen seven factors behind on Sunday afternoon after United had loved a cushty win over Tottenham they usually have been but to kick off in their night fixture towards Everton, which ultimately completed 7-0.
Just as towards Everton, it was a fast and dominant begin at Kingsmeadow towards struggling Leicester. There was no Sam Kerr, left on the bench after coming off early on the weekend following illness and due to calf cramp, however Guro Reiten wanted solely eight minutes to rating.
She had been provided by Pernille Harder, who has been in crimson scorching kind since coming back from long-term harm in current weeks. The Dane went on to rating two of her personal earlier than half-time, with Erin Cuthbert having already doubled Chelsea’s lead by that point.
Lauren James scored a scorcher of a fifth not lengthy after half-time, chopping in from the suitable and lashing the ball into the highest nook with weaker left foot, whereas Jelena Cankovic netted Chelsea’s sixth of the night time in stoppage time on the finish of the sport.
13 objectives with out reply in two WSL video games from Chelsea has worn out United’s aim distinction benefit in the house of 72 hours, which had the potential to function an additional point if wanted.
Just days away from dealing with United in the FA Cup last at Wembley, Hayes took the chance to withdraw Harder, Reiten, James and Cuthbert after little greater than an hour to guarantee as a lot freshness as attainable. There was additionally the added bonus of Kadeisha Buchanan’s return.
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Once the ultimate has been performed, Chelsea nonetheless have a sport in hand in the WSL. They will play that subsequent Wednesday once they journey throughout London to face West Ham which have taken solely one point from a attainable 21 towards the highest 4 this season. With United not in motion in the league once more till the next weekend (20/21 May), Chelsea will anticipate to be prime and in the driving seat by then.
At that stage, there shall be no extra video games in hand and so whoever is in first place going into the penultimate spherical of fixtures will see the title as theirs to lose.
One main factor that would rely towards Chelsea at this stage is the potential for fatigue. The Blues have performed 14 instances throughout 4 competitions since 5 March, a interval throughout which United have been in motion solely 9 instances – and with out worldwide journey.
“I personally don’t feel mentally tired,” Erin Cuthbert mentioned.
“We’ve been in a lot of tournaments but certain things and certain turning points give you energy. The performance against Lyon in the home leg [of the Champions League quarter-finals] certainly gave us a lot of energy.
“Even just going to Barcelona and the Camp Nou and showing what we were capable of gave everybody in the dressing room a lift. We were gutted to go out but the dressing room saw it as a turning point and fuel the fire to really kick on. We all said ‘this is time to go on and win two titles’.”
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