Chelsea made it four league wins from four to return to the top of WSL but were made to work for it as they defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Widnes.
It was Chelsea who started the brighter of the two creating a chance inside the openin minute as they broke into the penalty area but Eniola Aluko could only hit her shot tamely at the Liverpool goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain. Liverpool responded as Caroline Weir created Liverpool’s first chance cutting across the edge of the penalty area but curling a left footed effort well wide of the post on four minutes.
The deadlock was broken on 14 minutes as Liverpool surrendered possession on the edge of their own penalty area, the ball was played immediately inside to Aluko whose scuffed shot fell kindly into the path of Ji So-Yun who made no mistake beating Chamberlain in the bottom right hand corner to make it 1-0.
In last season’s fixture Chelsea scored early and romped home to victory but this time Liverpool responded and almost drew themselves level as Katie Zelem cut inside from the right but could only fire her shot into the hands of Hedvig Lindahl.
Chelsea should have made it 2-0 on 25 minutes when a superb cross was whipped to the far post but, despite being unmarked, Gilly Flaherty but headed wide of the post arguably having her view blocked by Ji. Liverpool almost punished Chelsea for their miss as Caroline Weir received a pass at the edge of the penalty area, turned superbly and fired a hard effort towards goal forcing a superb save from Lindahl. Chelsea went close again on 30 minutes as Ji, Aluko and Kirby combined on the counter with the latter’s effort defected safely into Chamberlain’s hands.
With five minutes of the first half remaining Chelsea were dealt their first blow of the game as Katie Chapman was forced from the game after a clash of heads in midfield, eventually being replaced by Bethany England. The half finished with Gemma Davison curling an effort agonisingly past the post after she done well to open up space at the edge of the area. Chelsea deserved their first half lead with Kirby and Ji in particular dominating the game.
The second half began with Kirby going close on 50 minutes as she flashed a hard shot across the Liverpool goal but wide of the post. The second half was much tighter as Liverpool limited Chelsea to long range efforts with both sides happy to play on the counter.
The turning point of the game came on 61 minutes as Shanice Van De Sandem latched onto a ball over the top but she took a touch too many and could only toe poke it into the side netting at the near post. A minute later Chelsea went down the other end and made it 2-0 as a corner was whipped to the far post before Borges knocked it down to Flaherty to power home with a diving header.
On 67 minutes Chelsea suffered their second injury blow as a terrifically whipped in cross from Tash Harding almost reached Rosie White in the six yard box with Lindahl able to claim the ball first; however the Swedish international would come off the worse as she too suffered a head injury. Lindahl’s replacement, Becky Spencer was immediately called into action as a bouncing ball into the six yard box reached the head of Weir with Spencer just getting enough on the ball to force it wide.
With seven minutes remaining the game sprung back into life as a terrific ball through the middle from 16-year-old substitute Niamh Charles released the impressive Weir one-one-one and the Scottish international made no mistake slotting it under Spencer into the bottom right hand corner. Almost immediately Davison sought to restore Chelsea’s two goal lead as she ran the length of the field before a terrific block from Mayumi Pacheco denied the Chelsea forward from six yards out.
Despite more than eight minutes of stoppage time Liverpool couldn’t force another effort on goal as Chelsea maintained their 100% start to the season in all competitions in a terrific advert for the league.
Player of the Match: Ji (Chelsea)
