Emma Hayes reacts to 8-0 win in landmark 300th Chelsea game

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said that she ‘doesn’t know where the time has gone’ after celebrating her 300th game in charge of the club with a stunning 8-0 win.

The Blues, who are gunning for a fourth consecutive WSL title, will finish the weekend top of the table after briefly being overtaken by Manchester United on goal difference earlier on Saturday.

Chelsea have played a game more than their rivals but restored a three-point cushion over both United and Arsenal, who also won, as well massively boosting their own goal difference.

Goals from Guro Reiten and Jessie Fleming saw Chelsea race into a 2-0 lead within the first 13 minutes. Reiten managed four assists in total, with Fran Kirby, Niamh Charles, Sam Kerr and Bethany England all also getting on the scoresheet.

Hayes has been in charge at Chelsea since 2012 and transformed the club into one of the world’s leading women’s teams.

“300 games and I don’t know where the time has gone,” she posted on Twitter afterwards.

“Thank you to everyone associated to the team for making this time some of the best moments in my life. It’s a privilege to work for this amazing club.”

Discussing the game itself, Hayes told club media, “Happy to see us working on things we’ve worked on in training. That’s the most important thing for me…that we take that work into here and that everyone across the squad can play the roles we ask and execute at the level we do.

“I really like that we sustained the performance for 90 minutes.”

Hayes also spoke the longer-term impact of the big win, with a big Champions League game against Real Madrid coming up on Thursday and four more goals overall, three of which are in Europe, before the squad can rest over the Christmas break.

“It breathes confidence in the group,” the boss said. “The squad have worked hard to get us to this position and I feel more confident every day that everybody can deliver what we’re looking for.”