The screams of delight from the departing Emma Hayes in her technical area, the roar and chest-thumping of the injured Sam Kerr sat high above the dugout, and the chaotic flailing arms from the jubilant corner of fans in blue. Chelsea are Women’s Super League champions for a fifth time in a row having thrashed the FA Cup winners Manchester United 6-0 in style at Old Trafford.
Those scenes came within 10 minutes. That’s all it took. In the end it was all a little anticlimactic, Chelsea’s two goals inside those eight minutes enough to give them an almost insurmountable four-goal lead on goal difference over title rivals Manchester City. By half-time, despite City going 1-0 up at Aston Villa, Chelsea had doubled their tally and extended their advantage, going in four up – Sjoeke Nüsken and the utterly unplayable Mayra Ramírez adding to the latter’s opener and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s goal. Melanie Leupolz added a fifth after the break as they ran up the numbers and there was an emotional sixth from departing record goal-scorer Fran Kirby, but it wasn’t needed, with City limping to a 2-1 win.
We should have expected it to be this way, because once Arsenal cracked the door ajar for Chelsea to come back into the race, after a 4-3 defeat to Liverpool handed City the advantage, there was really little doubt they would do just that.
“I love the saying when someone gives you a second chance in life, make sure you don’t need a third,” Hayes said, after their 1-0 defeat of Tottenham on Wednesday and 8-0 win over Bristol City prior meant the race would go down to the final day of the season with Chelsea and City level on 52 points, Chelsea with a goal difference of 47 to City’s 45.
The contrast with City’s campaign end was stark. Handed their second chance by Liverpool, wins against Arsenal and Brighton would have delivered a second ever league title, their first coming in 2016. Instead, a first loss at home to Arsenal in seven years gifted that second chance straight back to ruthless Chelsea.
Hayes made three changes to the side that edged past Tottenham. Colombian forward Ramírez among them, returned to the starting XI after a spell out with a hamstring injury. For Marc Skinner there was just one change to the team that earned an emphatic 4-0 win against Tottenham last weekend to win a first FA Cup title, with Melvine Malard replacing the injured Leah Galton.
The visiting side were rampant from the off, Ramírez at the heart of things and she would open the scoring in the second minute, heading in Guro Reiten’s cross from the left with some force. The players in red looked shell-shocked by the frenetic energy from their opponents and the second arrived as just rewards, Rytting Kaneryd slotting coolly past Mary Earps into the far corner.
It was another two in quick succession just before the break. First, Ramírez wrestled free of Millie Turner with ease before delivering at the near post for Nüsken at the back post to turn in. Then, Ramírez had her second, shrugging off the challenge of Lisa Naalsund and driving forward before lashing past Earps.
Within two minutes of the restart Chelsea had a fifth, Reiten collecting the loose ball after it had skimmed the base of the post before pulling it back to be fired in by Leupolz. Kirby’s entry was met with warm applause and the fans in Blue rose as she raced through one on one, slipping the ball past Earps before being engulfed by her teammates in front of the Chelsea fans.
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Chelsea were doing their job and running up the scoreline, but it wouldn’t be needed, Rachel Daly’s equaliser cancelling out Mary Fowler’s goal for Man City before Lauren Hemp put them ahead again. The final 20 minutes were celebratory, the Chelsea fans jumping and dominating at the Theatre of Dreams, in front of the watching Dave Brailsford and Sir Alex Ferguson. “Emma, what’s the score?” was met with the Chelsea boss holding up a hand and an extra thumb towards the fans to indicate six.
This was the send-off Hayes deserved, standing on the sideline, the images of her players celebrating painted on to her trainers being brought to life by the players on the pitch in front of her. She was always going to leave a winner.
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