Women’s Super League: Chelsea close gap on Man Utd as title race hots up

The Blues are back within a point of the table toppers

Pa Sport Staff
Sunday 02 April 2023 21:47 BST
Comments
Chelsea impressed to beat Aston Villa 3-0
Chelsea impressed to beat Aston Villa 3-0 (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Chelsea moved back to within one point of Women’s Super League leaders Manchester United with a comfortable 3-0 victory away to Aston Villa.

The Blues carried the momentum from their stunning Champions League win over Lyon in midweek with an impressive display.

Jelena Cankovic opened the scoring to give the visitors a deserved lead before she teed up Guro Reiten to double their advantage before the break.

Sam Kerr notched her 50th WSL goal to claim Chelsea’s third when she cut into the box and rifled the ball into the top corner.

Arsenal came from behind to beat Manchester City and leapfrog their title rivals in to third.

A closely-contested title race took another turn this weekend as Arsenal scored two second-half goals to turn their fortunes around after Khadija Shaw gave the visitors an early lead.

Shaw opened the scoring in the fifth minute when she headed home Chloe Kelly’s cross and City could have doubled their advantage but Lauren Hemp fired over from close range before half-time.

Arsenal made City pay for their missed chances just after the hour mark when Frida Maanum finished emphatically and the Gunners turned proceedings around in the 74th minute when Katie McCabe drove into the box from a short corner and picked out the top corner.

Aggie Beever-Jones scored a last-gasp winner to hand Everton a narrow 2-1 victory over Tottenham.

The Toffees took the lead four minutes in when a neat combination of passes unlocked the Spurs defence as Nicoline Sorenson found herself one-on-one with Rebecca Spencer before she fired past the goalkeeper.

Eveliina Summanen pulled things level when she received a pass from Beth England before she finished into the bottom-right corner but Everton waited until stoppage-time to net the winner when Beever-Jones curled the ball home from inside the area.

Leicester City moved off the foot of the table thanks to Carrie Jones’ last-minute winner at home to Reading.

The Foxes took the lead midway through the first half when Sam Tierney picked out the bottom corner with a composed volley but the Royals equalised on the stroke of half-time through Charlie Wellings.

Leicester were made to wait until deep into stoppage time – as the sides looked to share the spoils – with Jones finishing low into the bottom corner from inside the area to give Leicester their third win of the season.

Elsewhere, Liverpool and West Ham played out a goalless draw at Victoria Road.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in