Paul Donegan

After a day dominated by off the field news, Chelsea took on West Ham, who were unbeaten at
home in the league, on Thursday evening at the Chigwell Construction Stadium looking to reduce
Arsenal’s lead at the top of the WSL.

Chelsea started off brightly and Pernille Harder saw a header hit the post from a Jonna Andersson
corner in the first 2 minutes. Sam Kerr had a header easily saved in the 8th minute and shortly after Ji
put a shot wide. In the 17th minute, Bethany England saw an effort saved and seconds later Sophie
Ingle saw a long range shot go over.

Chelsea did take the lead after 21 minutes when after West Ham gave the ball away, Andersson
passed to Harder who took a touch and shot into the corner of the net. Three minutes later Chelsea
increased their lead when Harder headed back to Niamh Charles who scored with a shot from
outside the area that took deflection on its way in.

West Ham’s first effort came in the 26th minute when Tameka Yallop saw her curling, dipping effort
tipped over by Zecira Musovic in goal for Chelsea. The resulting corner was scrambled clear by
Chelsea.

It was 3-0 to Chelsea after 33 minutes when Ji’s delightful through ball was headed in by Harder for
her second goal of the match.

Yallop saw a header saved in the 38th minute as West Ham looked to get a goal back before half time.
Two minutes later, in a repeat of the corner routine from earlier in the half, Andersson crossed but
Harder this time saw her header go over. West Ham had a good chance to get a goal back two
minutes before half time when Katerina Svitoka headed wide Kate Longhurst’s cross.

West Ham started the second half well and scored three minutes after the break when Longhurst’s
cross was volleyed in by Dagny Brynjarsdottir.

West Ham continued to be the better side and Svitoka saw a long range shot go wide after 51
minutes and 10 minutes later the same player saw a header caught by the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Chelsea didn’t have a second half chance until the 63rd minute when they made it 4-1 when after a
bit of pinball between West Ham players in their own box, the ball fell to Kerr who finished from
inside the area.

Chelsea blocked a West Ham chance after 65 minutes as they looked to get back into the game
again. After coming on a substitute in the 75th minute, Lois Joel had two late chances for West Ham
when she saw a header saved after 81 minutes and three minutes later saw a shot from the edge of
the area saved low down.

A big win for Chelsea as they move five points behind Arsenal in the league with two games in hand.

Teams

West Ham United:
Arnold, Parker, Flaherty, Cissoko, Longhurst, Hasegawa, Brynjarsdottir, Svitkova (Joel 76’), Wyne
(Evans 57’), Yallop (Filis 76’), Walker (Leon 57’)

Unused substitutes: Stringer, Snerle, Leat, Cairns, Houssein

Goal - Brynjarsdottir 48’

Chelsea:
Musovic, Carter, Bright, Nouwen, Charles, Ingle, Ji (Reiten 67’), Andersson (Abdullina 76’), England
(Spence 67’), Harder (James 79’), Kerr

Unused substitutes: Mjelde, Berger

Goals – Harder 21’, 33’, Charles 24’, Kerr 63’

Referee – Carl Brook