Aston Villa fell to a 3-0 defeat against Chelsea at Kingsmeadow on Thursday, having seen goalkeeper Anna Leat dismissed inside the first five minutes for handling the ball outside the box.
Chelsea were in dire need of a victory to bring an end to concerning back-to-back losses that saw Emma Hayes’ side defeated in the Conti Cup final and dumped out of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
The Blues turned it round on Thursday though, with goals from Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano and Kadeisha Buchanan sealing three points for the hosts, who now return to to the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table.
As it happened
Carla Ward suggested pre-match that Chelsea would be ‘wounding animals’ after a disappointing run of form, and the Villa boss was proven right.
Admittedly, the Villans weren’t helped in their fight by an early red card for Anna Leat – the goalkeeper was instantly dismissed when she leapt outside of her penalty area to save a Sjoeke Nüsken effort.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt was, in truth, game over at that point.
Aggie Beever-Jones curled a Niamh Charles cross past 17-year-old Sophia Poor, with the youngster making her WSL debut to fill the void left by Leat’s early exit – and Chelsea’s rampage did not stop there.
Maika Hamano added a second before the break after a neat flick from Catarina Macario, who would be influential as the rout continued in the second half – her delivery into the box was headed home by Kadeisha Buchanan.
Chelsea move ahead of Manchester City on goal difference.
The lineups
CHE: Hampton; Charles, Buchanan, Carter, Lawrence; Kirby, Ingle, Nüsken; Hamano, Macario; Beever-Jones
AVL: Leat; Maritz, Corsie, Patten; Daly, Taylor, Nobbs, Mayling; Dali; Salmon, Magill
