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Chelsea’s reign as English women’s football’s top team is over after Manchester City dismantled the champions to open up a surely unassailable lead at the top of the Women’s Super League.
In an emphatic victory that will be symbolic of the ongoing changing of the guard, Kerolin scored a hat-trick as the runaway leaders won 5-1 at a jubilant Etihad Stadium and their fans were chanting “easy, easy, easy” before the end.
Andrée Jeglertz’s supremely confident-looking side now have a 12-point advantage over Chelsea, who slipped to third, and an 11-point lead over second-placed Manchester United, with eight games remaining. Even with trips to the Emirates Stadium and Old Trafford to come, none of Manchester City’s rivals will realistically harbour any hope of catching them.
For Chelsea, this was a chastening afternoon that summed up the rapid collapse of their title bid since December. Having previously been unbeaten in the WSL since 1 May 2024 and having yet to face a domestic loss under Sonia Bompastor, this latest defeat was their third in their past five WSL matches since December’s surprise loss to Everton. They have now lost back-to-back WSL games for the first time since July 2015.
The star of the show was Brazil’s Kerolin, who opened the scoring with a deflected strike after Chelsea failed to clear a set piece. What followed was an impressive spell of Chelsea pressure but, when the defending champions failed to score while they were on top, Manchester City punished them when Khadija Shaw ran on to Vivianne Miedema’s through ball, outmuscled Naomi Girma and finished past Hannah Hampton to make it 2-0 and put Jeglertz’s team in full control.
Chelsea felt Girma had been fouled by Shaw but their day would get significantly worse after half-time when they conceded possession in Manchester City’s half and found themselves exposed at the back. Kerolin raced away with such speed that nobody could catch her, and she chipped Hampton in cool style.
After slotting in another from Lauren Hemp’s pass, Kerolin was withdrawn to a standing ovation, on a day where her skill and lethal acceleration proved unstoppable from Chelsea’s point of view. Their captain, Millie Bright, summoned her teammates into a huddle at 4-0 for a short, crisis team talk, and they did get a goal back through Alyssa Thompson’s classy finish. But Miedema was soon heading in from a corner to restore the four-goal cushion as the visitors’ poor defending continued and their body language stooped to new, low levels.
