Two goals and an assist for Fran Kirby saw her awarded the Player of the Match as Chelsea led from the first minute to the last to win their fourth league title.
This final day clash at Kingsmeadow was Chelsea’s chance to control their own destiny in the WSL title race as they welcomed Reading.
Emma Hayes’ side’s task was simple, win and they would be champions for the second successive season. And the importance of the game was apparent through the team selection as Fran Kirby and Pernille Harder returned to the starting eleven after both women started on the bench for their previous game against Tottenham.
Conversely, for Reading, it would be a farewell for a pair of key players as Fara Williams would be playing her last professional game as she had previously announced her intention to retire at the season’s end.
The Royals would also be saying goodbye to another key midfielder in Angharad James, after she agreed to join NWSL side North Carolina Courage.
Melanie Leupolz would give the London outfit the perfect start as just over a minute into the game, Jess Carter would fire a corner low towards the edge of the box.
Leupolz would strike towards goal first-time and Reading goalkeeper Grace Moloney couldn’t get down to her side to cover it quickly enough.
For much of the first half, the visitors were able to keep the game competitive, limiting Chelsea’s chances and having equally dangerous spells of possession.
On the stroke of halftime, though, the hosts would double their lead as the league’s premier partnership of Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr would strike again as Kirby would play Kerr in behind the Reading defence and despite gunning for the Golden Boot, given to the league’s top goalscorer, Kerr unselfishly squared across goal, back to Kirby, who fired into the top right corner of the goal.
At halftime, with Manchester City being held at the time by West Ham, the Londoners couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day, with the Citizens needing a dramatic turnaround to swing the title in their favour.
Coming out of the halftime break, it did not look impossible for the Berkshire side to find their way back into the fixture as they enjoyed a prolonged period of possession in the first ten minutes of the second half.
That spell was almost rewarded with a farewell goal for Fara Williams as Chelsea would clear a Reading corner, but the ball would be played back to Williams on the left wing.
Instead of crossing the ball back into the area, Williams spotted Chelsea ‘keeper Ann-Katrin Berger not covering her near post.
So, she would fire an effort towards goal, but her shot didn’t quite have the power behind it to catch out the German shot-stopper, who was able to dive down to her right and smother the shot to extinguish the attack.
Soon after, the difference in clinical finishing between these two sides was made apparent as a defensive clearance from the reigning champions would find Kerr in the Reading half.
Kerr would hold up the ball well for her teammates to get forward in support and it was no surprise that she would find Fran Kirby on the edge of the box.
Kirby would touch the ball onto her left foot, explode forward to prevent a block from the defender covering her, and fire across goal for another wonderful finish against her former side, a finish that would all but ensure that Chelsea would be crowned champions.
It was clear that Emma Hayes felt the same way, as before the game could be restarted following the goal, the Chelsea manager made a trio of substitutions, likely keeping one eye on the upcoming Champions League final against Barcelona.
Unlike their previous game against Tottenham, the multiple simultaneous substitutes did not disrupt the hosts’ momentum, if anything, they reinvigorated the London outfit as they enjoyed much more of the ball than they had in the second half to that point.
However, Reading would still look threatening as Brooke Chaplen would backheel a pass in the Chelsea penalty area to find the arriving Danielle Carter.
Carter would make a sharp turn, shifting the ball onto her left foot, away from Chelsea defender Jess Carter but the Reading striker would rush her effort and, as a result, she would not be able to keep her shot on target.
That missed opportunity would arguably be the last bright spot in the game for the Royals as with twenty minutes still to play, Chelsea would find their fourth.
Kirby would chip a pass in behind to Kerr, with the Australian international volleying past an onrushing and outstretched Grace Moloney to secure the Golden Boot for herself, after Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema failed to add to her tally against Aston Villa.
Four minutes later, the ruthless champions would put the icing on the cake as a corner would find the head of Kerr, forcing a save from Moloney, but she could only parry the ball out as far as Chelsea substitute Erin Cuthbert, with the Scotswoman scrambling the ball over the line to put her side five-nil up.
Despite piling further pressure on the Royals, five-nil was how the game would end and Chelsea could begin their celebrations, having become the most successful WSL side ever with their fourth league title, after previously being tied with Arsenal with three.
One of the biggest positives for Chelsea fans in the celebrations was seeing Maren Mjelde able to join in on the festivities, albeit on a crutch, after the Norwegian suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Continental League Cup final.
Elsewhere on the final day in the WSL, Manchester City were able to defeat West Ham one-nil thanks to a seventy-fifth minute strike from Ellen White, but it would of course not be enough to see them crowned champions.
And in the battle to avoid relegation, Bristol City would fall to Brighton by a score of three goals to one to confirm their relegation to the Championship, where they will be replaced in the WSL next season by this season’s Championship winners, Leicester City.
The Inbound Observer 