Chelsea Women romp to 5-0 victory over Bristol City
By Tom Gott
The 33-game unbeaten streak for Chelsea Women is over, but Emma Hayes' side extended their current run to two victories on the trot with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Bristol City.
Chelsea managed to refocus themselves quickly after their shock defeat to Brighton, bouncing back with a great 3-0 win over Arsenal, but they hit another gear when they travelled to Twerton Park to face Matt Beard's side.
Hayes went all-out attack for Sunday's precursor to March's Conti Cup final between these two sides, calling on Fran Kirby, Pernille Harder, Bethany England, Sam Kerr and Ji So-yun to bring the goals, and that's exactly what happened.
The Blues began well and took the lead after 14 minutes as Kirby rose highest to head home a Maren Mjelde corner, and Harder made it two 20 minutes later when she finished off a lovely move with Sophie Ingle to give Sophie Baggaley in the Bristol net no chance.
Chelsea went into the break three goals ahead thanks to another strike from Kirby, continuing her assault on Arsenal star Vivianne Miedema at the top of the Women's Super League scoring charts.
She is on fire ?@frankirby gets her second goal of the game!#BarclaysFAWSL pic.twitter.com/YVb66aqNwv
— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) February 14, 2021
Kirby wasn't the only contender bumping up her numbers. Kerr joined in the fun shortly after the break, netting her tenth goal of the competition as she headed home a perfect cross from England to put Chelsea even further ahead.
England's efforts deserved a goal, and she got what she merited on the hour mark, bundling home a cross from Harder to seal what was a well-deserved win for the WSL leaders.
Hard work pays off! @Bethany_Eng15 gets a goal of her own!#BarclaysFAWSL pic.twitter.com/OWvp2zAYbJ
— Barclays FA Women's Super League (@BarclaysFAWSL) February 14, 2021
There could have been even more goals for Hayes' Blues. Kirby looked particularly dangerous and might have sealed a hat-trick on another day, but she was made to settle for the two goals this time around.
It's the worst-possible result for Bristol, who will meet Chelsea in the Conti Cup final one month to the day after this game. They were already underdogs heading into that one, having lost 9-0 in this fixture back in September, so the momentum is well and truly on Chelsea's side.