Chelsea 1-1 West Ham, Women’s Super League: Post-match report

Wednesday’s dramatic last-minute goal in Paris seems even more important for the Blues now, as their slim hopes of Champions League qualification via Women’s Super League were ended on Sunday at the hands of West Ham.

The Blues started brightly, but it took until just before half-time for the team’s top scorer, Beth England, to open the scoring. The striker’s diving header marked her eighth league goal.

Missed chances from Chelsea proved costly in the second half as Gilly Flaherty beat Jess Carter in the air to head West Ham level. The centre-half had a muted celebration with respect to the club who she had won five major trophies with, before moving on last summer.

Victories for both Manchester City and Arsenal on the same day left Chelsea with third to aim for, which will be their worst finish since 2013. The only way to avoid dropping out of Europe next year is to win the competition, a task which begins against holders Lyon later this month.

As many of the players head out on international duty, the Blues will have to wait until Sunday, April 14th to get back in action, with a huge FA Cup semi-final against City on the cards.

Chelsea starting eleven (4-1-2-3): Telford; Carter (Blundell, 70’), Bright, Eriksson, Riley; Mjelde; Spence (c) (Carney, 70’), Ji (Engman, 62’); Cuthbert, England, Bachmann.

West Ham starting eleven (4-3-3): Moorhouse; Percival, Flaherty (c), Hendrix, Simon (Rafferty, 461); Visalli, Reichardt (Longhurst, 461), Cho; Lehmann, Kiernan (Kmita, 76’), Ross.