Chelsea’s Barclays Women’s Super League title hopes have been dealt a major blow after The Blues were defeated 4-3 by Liverpool at Prenton Park this evening.
Nothing other than a win would do for Emma Hayes’ side but they were stunned in a rollercoaster match on Merseyside.
Chelsea started the match brightly and they broke the deadlock inside 10 minutes. Catarina Macário’s shot was blocked and from the resulting corner kick, Aggie Beever-Jones was able to head the ball home.
Niamh Charles then headed wide when in a good position to score before Sophie Roman-Haug saw an effort blocked at the other end.
As the first half went on, Chelsea became a little sloppy, allowing Liverpool into the game, however, The Reds were unable to make their mark before the interval.
Liverpool did manage to level matters early in the second half. A corner kick was delivered to the back post and Roman Haug was there to plant the ball into the net with a bullet header.
Chelsea’s hopes of getting three points were then almost dealt a further blow as Mia Enderby raced into the box but Hannah Hampton was there to make a crucial save.
The Blues were struggling to regain control of the game and they suffered a hammer blow in the 65th minute when Gemma Bonner headed in from a corner to put Liverpool 2-1 up.
With the pressure on, Chelsea searched for a way back into the game and Beever-Jones saw a header cleared off the line before Maika Hamano fired an effort at home keeper Teagan Micah. The Blues then got their equaliser when Beever-Jones thumped the ball into the top corner of the net.
Chelsea’s fightback was short-lived. Just a minute later, Liverpool regained the lead when Ceri Holland fed Leanne Kiernan and she nudged the ball beyond Hampton and into the back of the net.
The crazy nature of the game continued and it was Chelsea who scored next. Macário struck a low shot at goal and somehow, the ball trickled over the goal-line for 3-3. The goal went down as a Micah own goal.
It felt like there would be one final twist and it came in nine minutes of injury time. Bonner got her head on another corner to give her side the lead again.
Chelsea threw everything at it in the dying minutes and Beever-Jones thought that she had scored again only to be superbly denied by Micah at full stretch. There was no way through for The Blues as they fell to a damaging 4-3 loss.
Tonight’s result leaves Chelsea six points adrift of Manchester City with three games left to play. Liverpool remain fifth but they are now level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United.
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