Leicester City Women

Chelsea convincingly beat bottom of the table Leicester City 8-0 at a cold and occasional rainy King Power Stadium to return to the top of the Women’s Super League after being displaced earlier in the day.  Guro Reiten and Jessie Fleming scored two goals each, and the other scorers were Fran Kirby, Niamh Charles, Sam Kerr and Bethany England. 

Emma Hayes’ 300th game as manager of Chelsea got off to a good start as they took the lead in the 4th minute when Kirby set up Reiten to score.

Kirby had a chance to extend the visitors lead but her low shot was saved by a diving Demi Lambourne in the 10th minute.

The away side did make it 2-0 in the 13th minute when Reiten passed back to Fleming who finished from 6-yards.

Chelsea had another opportunity two minutes later, but Kerr went too wide after going past the goalkeeper. Kirby passed to Kerr in the 17th minute, but her shot went just wide.  There next chance came in the 32nd minute but Lambourne got to the ball before Kirby after some nice build up play.  Two minutes after that the Blues broke forward, Kirby passed to Kerr but her shot hit the outside of the post.

Chelsea scored a flurry of goals just before half time.  In the 39th minute, Kirby made it 3-0 with an outside of the boot finish.  Two minutes later, Niamh Charles headed in a corner to made it 4-0.  In the final minute of the half, a nice move was finished by Sam Kerr to make it 5-0. 

Reiten assisted all three of these goals to bring it up to four assists and a goal for the Norwegian during the first half. 

Leicester had their first shot at goal of the match in 48th minute from half time substitute Natasha Flint.

Chelsea made it 6-0 in the 50th minute.  A cross was cleared only as far as Fleming who scored her second goal of the day when her shot found the back of the net.

The home side were creating a few more chances in the early stages of the second half with Aileen Whelan’s shot from the edge area forcing Ann-Katrin Berger to dive to make a save in the 55th minute. 

Berger was forced to make a better save five minutes later when she tipped over Flint’s shot.  A couple of minutes after that, there was a scramble in the Chelsea penalty area which ended when the ball was blasted over by Molly Pike as Leicester looked for a consultation goal.

Reiten came close to adding to her total of goals and assists but her shot went into the side netting in the 66th minute.  Second half substitute Jelena Cankovic then shot wide for the Blues in the 72nd minute.

Two second half substitutes combined in the 75th minute as Chelsea scored their seventh goal when England headed in an Alsu Abdullina cross.

It was 8-0 in the 82nd minute when Kirby finished from close range to score her second goal of the game.

The visitors had two late chances as they looked to match last season’s 9-0 win at the King Power but a header from a corner was saved in the 87 minute, then Lambourne stopped an effort from England in injury time.

Chelsea remain three points clear of Manchester United and Arsenal after the weekend’s matches, though they have played a game more than those two.  Willie Kirk’s Leicester are still pointless and are now seven points adrift at the bottom of the WSL. 

Leicester’s next match is on Thursday when they are away to Sunderland in the Conti Cup.  Their next league game is on Sunday when they travel to Liverpool.  Chelsea are in UEFA Women’s Champions League action on Thursday evening when they travel to play Real Madrid before they return to Kingsmeadow to play Reading next Sunday evening in the WSL.

Line ups

Leicester City (4-3-3): Lambourne, Simon (Bott 46’), Howard, Brougham, Purfield (Vance 78’), Whelan (c), Tierney (Smith 83’), Pike, Goodwin (Cain 76’), C. Jones, Baker (Flint 46’)

Unused substitutes: Levell, E. Jones, Robinson, Scofield

Booked – Tierney 36’

Chelsea (4-3-3): Berger, Perisset (Carter 74’), Bright, Eriksson (c) (Nouwen 74’), Charles, Ingle, Fleming (Cankovic 63’), Kirby, Rytting Kaneryd, Kerr (England 63’), Reiten (Abdullina 74’)

Unused substitutes: Musovic, James, Svitkova, Cuthbert

Goals – Reiten 4’, Fleming 13’ 50’, Kirby 39’ 82’, Charles 41’, Kerr 45’, England 75’

Referee – Amy Fearn