Pernille Harder scored a brace to help Chelsea Women produce one of the high-scoring football results of the weekend in the Women’s Super League. Pernille Harder had her first start since returning from injury, scoring twice and assisting Guro Reiten’s first-half goal to give her four WSL goals in the previous two games. Prior to the break, Chelsea moved up 4-0 thanks to a goal from Erin Cuthbert as well. With two games remaining for both clubs, as they battle for their top-flight survival, Lauren James and Jelena Cankovic added to Chelsea’s total in the second half with magnificent left-footed goals to put Leicester two points ahead of bottom-side Reading.
Man Utd is under pressure from Chelsea, who are now equal on goal differential (+42) and just one point behind them in the race for the WSL championship. The team of Emma Hayes also has a game left to play, putting them in charge of their own fate.
At Kingsmeadow, Chelsea attacked Leicester right away in an effort to win the game fast before Sunday’s FA Cup final. After eight minutes, Reiten guided Harder’s cross into the net for her eighth goal of the season, giving Leicester hope that it wouldn’t be a repeat of their 8-0 loss to the Blues earlier this season. Within ten minutes, Cuthbert had doubled Chelsea’s advantage after recovering possession of the ball deep within the territory of Leicester. She had done so by navigating Janina Leitzig. As the Blues continued to apply pressure to Leicester in an effort to defend their WSL title, the relegation-threatened team gave nothing little in response.
Before the half, Harder scored two more goals, tapping in after Leitzig parried James’ drilled shot to the back post. Later, the Danish attacker pushed at the Leicester defence and scored again with a low effort that Leitzig was helpless to stop. Ahead of Sunday’s journey to a sold-out Wembley for the FA Cup final, Hayes made a quadruple substitution, taking off all her goal scorers. James joined the fun with a superb strike from inside the box with her left foot that nestled in the top corner of the goal.
The sixth goal came from Chelsea replacement Cankovic, who may have had the finest shot of the group. Chelsea made it two games in a row with six or more goals when her left-footed strike from the edge of the box proved to be too much for Leitzig, who received very little assistance from her defence that evening. As they pursue a domestic double, Hayes’ team, which has scored in 18 of their past 19 games, is in excellent form. In contrast, more than any other side in the WSL, Leicester has failed to score in 13 of its 20 games.
“Pressure-building on Man Utd is now our responsibility. We’re in second place, not first, so it’s our responsibility to make sure that when we play West Ham the following week, we know that if we win the game we already have, we’ll be in an even better position,” Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes said. “I informed the squad that our performance in the early part of the season lacked [being clinical]. We just haven’t converted or generated in the manner that I am aware this squad does, but we are doing so right now and at the appropriate point in the season. Let’s hope that holds true for the remainder.”
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