Chelsea FCW 3-1 Aston Villa WFC, Women’s Super League: Post-match reaction

Aston Villa started the season strong with wins over Manchester City and Leicester in the Women’s Super League, and beating Manchester United on penalties in the Women’s League Cup group stage. But they have been in the exact opposite form ever since.

They were still a worthy opponent given how they manage to pressure the Blues in the first few minutes of the game. But once the home side at Kingsmeadow were settled, it was (almost) all Chelsea from that point on.

On one of the attempts against the Villans, Lauren James broke the deadlock. That was on yet another Guro Reiten assist as the Norwegian layed the ball to the English Team representative, and James had all the time in the world to pick a side and shoot from the edge of the box to convert our first goal of the day.

With the goal Aston Villa were more open with their attempts to make the match level, which bode well for us as Pernille Harder and Sam Kerr tried their best to find more goals for us. However Villa’s plan worked as Rachel Daly found the equaliser.

It felt as if Chelsea needed to be back in the lead as soon as possible since Villa were still relentless in a day where defence looked far from their best. Thankfully James took notice and scored her second goal today — also her second this season — with a beautiful shot after an assist from Harder.

Having scored twice, James showed she could also provide assists. Pouncing on a terrible mistake from Villa’s defence, she won the ball near the box and layed it to Kerr. It was a simple tap-in for the striker to score our third goal of the day at Kingsmeadow.

Even with both Kerr and James off the pitch the Blues kept pushing for goals — and so did Aston Villa. But with Berger easily handling any shots against her, and the team being able to keep the ball in Villa’s half, it was only a matter of running the clock down and bagging the three points.

Carefree!

• Chelsea seem to be lined up on a 4-3-3 with Ann Katrin-Berger on goal; Eve Perisset, Millie Bright, Kadeisha Buchanan and Magda Eriksson in the backline; Sophie Ingle, Erin Cuthberg and Guro Reiten in midfield; and Lauren James, Sam Kerr and Pernille Harder making up the attacking trio.
• Subs are Jessie Fleming for Pernille Harder, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd for Lauren James, Niamh Charles for Guro Reiten, Beth England for Sam Kerr, and Jess Carter for Eve Perisset.
• Not a good showing from Chelsea’s defence during the first half, as Berger had to work a whole lot to keep us ahead before Villa found an equaliser that anyone could have seen coming from miles.
• In a day where neither Kerr nor Harder were clicking in front of the goal, James comes to the rescue!
• Another match, another flurry of penalty calls and harsh fouls just ignored by the referee.
• Next up: Manchester United away, in the Women’s Super League.
• KTBFFH!