Chelsea have ended a chaotic day for the club off the field by collecting three points on it as they recorded a 4-1 victory at West Ham United in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.
Sanctions imposed on owner Roman Abramovich by the UK Government earlier in the day has left Chelsea in crisis but The Blues put their worries to one side this evening as they put in a classy performance to defeat West Ham United at The Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Pernille Harder’s powerful header struck the post in just the second minute in Dagenham before both Beth England and Sam Kerr spurned good opportunities to score.
When the first goal did eventually arrive, it came from the boot of Harder, the Danish international curling a wonderful effort into the far corner of the West Ham United net.
Niamh Charles then thumped home the game’s second goal via a deflection off home defender Gilly Flaherty before Ji So-yun’s sublime long pass into the box was headed in by Harder as Chelsea went 3-0 up.
West Ham United should have reduced the arrears in first half injury time when Kate Longhurst’s cross was met by Katerina Svitkova but the Czech Republic international glanced her header wide.
It was a Longhurst delivery which caused Chelsea problems early in the second half. The midfielder’s cross found Dagny Bryjarsdottir who converted from 10 yards to make it 3-1.
That goal brought further life into the West Ham United side and they soon had the chance to pull another goal back but Svitkova again failed to get direction on her header.
The Hammers were made to rue that miss when an attempted clearance deflected into the path of Sam Kerr who struck Chelsea’s fourth goal from just a few yards.
The game quietened down after the fifth goal with neither side sufficiently troubling the opposition goalkeeper. West Ham United looked the more likely to score again but the game ended 4-1 in favour of the visitors.
Chelsea now move to within five points of league leaders Arsenal with two games in-hand while West Ham United remain eighth.
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