Sam Kerr’s nineteenth and twentieth goals of the season were enough for Chelsea to secure a 2-0 win over their London rivals and put them in control of the title race going into the final day.
The final game before the final day of this current WSL season was a London derby as the reigning WSL champions Chelsea travelled to face Tottenham at The Hive.
This game would be invaluable to the Blues as it was their game in hand over title rivals Manchester City, who moved to the top of the WSL by one point, after a four-nil win over Birmingham City over the weekend.
If Chelsea were able to avoid defeat in this midweek clash, they would return to the summit of the WSL. Of course, Emma Hayes’ side would have been targeting a win above all as a draw would only take them ahead of City on goal difference.
Despite the importance of this game, it was clear that Hayes was keeping one eye on the final day of the season and Chelsea’s upcoming Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona as Fran Kirby and Pernille Harder would start on the bench for this game, these two of five changes from the side that triumphed over Bayern Munich in the UWCL semi-final second leg.
Conversely, Tottenham were looking to avoid continuing a torrid run of form that has seen them winless in nine WSL matches.
Despite this, Spurs would threaten almost immediately as a ball was played in behind to Rianna Dean, who could not challenge Ann-Katrin Berger in the Chelsea goal after pressure from Magdalena Eriksson.
Chelsea would dominate large spells of the first half thanks to the link-up play of Sam Kerr and Beth England as the two players up front and Guro Reiten’s excellent crosses coming from the left wing.
The reigning WSL champions would constantly carve out chances, forcing six saves from Tottenham goalkeeper Becky Spencer in the first half alone but it would take them over forty minutes to finally break the deadlock.
The ball was played back towards the halfway line to Millie Bright, who unleashed a perfect long ball that dropped perfectly for Reiten. The Norwegian international would play the ball across the face of goal first time, with her pass finding the onrushing Kerr at the back post.
Kerr would make no mistake in finding the net, putting herself definitively at the top of the WSL scoring charts with her nineteenth of the season, after coming into this game tied at the top with Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema, and giving Chelsea a one-nil lead at the break.
The Blues would almost double their lead immediately after the restart as a cross was played in low to Jonna Andersson as she ran into the penalty area, her first-time effort would rattle the crossbar before Tottenham were able to clear the ball to deny Kerr heading in the rebound.
Chelsea would establish a two-goal cushion just five minutes later as another dangerous Reiten cross would find the head of Kerr, but her effort was denied by Spencer. However, Spencer was only able to parry away Kerr’s header and it would fall right back into the six-yard box, with Kerr reacting the quickest to poke in her own rebound and give Chelsea complete control over the tie.
Soon after, Hayes would manage her side, clearly thinking about the two vital games to come and feeling confident that her side had done enough to win, she would sub off Reiten, Kerr and Drew Spence simultaneously, likely to preserve their energy.
The substitutes would hamper the visitors’ momentum as Tottenham were able to see much more of the ball as the half progressed, albeit mostly in their own half.
Chelsea would continue to pressure the hosts but would not be able to majorly challenge Spencer for the remainder of the half to improve their goal difference over Manchester City as they would secure a two-nil win to return to the league’s summit.
The result puts Chelsea in control of the WSL title race and on course for an outrageous quintet of trophies for the season, having already won the Community Shield and the Continental League Cup and going into the final day of the WSL season two points clear at the top, already securing their place in the final of the Champions League and still alive in the fifth round of the Women’s FA Cup.
Chelsea being two points clear of Manchester City ahead of the final day means that they are firmly in control of the title race.
If the defending champions are able to beat Reading at Kingsmeadow on the final day, they will be champions again. If Chelsea battle to a draw, that could still be enough depending on if City are able to beat West Ham on the final day and can secure a victory steep enough to win the league on goal difference.
Tottenham’s final assignment of the season will be an away fixture at Birmingham City, a game that’s stakes have lower considerably as Birmingham are all but safe from relegation and Tottenham cannot climb any higher in the league table, they can only drop from eighth if they lose to Birmingham and West Ham beat Manchester City.
The Inbound Observer 