Tottenham Hotspur Women vs Chelsea Women. Women's Super League.
The Hive Stadium.
Report as Sam Kerr moves onto 20 Women's Super League goals with strikes in either half, both made by Guro Reiten, to send Chelsea top of the league, two points ahead of Manchester City, ahead of final-day clash with Reading on Sunday
Thursday 6 May 2021 06:05, UK
Sam Kerr's double lifted Chelsea back to the top of the Women's Super League and one win from being crowned champions, thanks to a 2-0 victory over Tottenham.
The Blues peppered Rebecca Spencer's goal in a first half dominated by the visitors but it took 41 minutes to make the breakthrough, supplied by Kerr firing Guro Reiten's low ball in from close range.
The WSL's top scorer grabbed her 20th goal of the season eight minutes into the second period to give Chelsea a comfortable advantage, turning home the rebound from her own header following another Reiten cross.
Ann-Katrin Berger was a relative spectator between the visitors' posts while Chelsea passed up further chances to add to their lead as Drew Spence headed against the crossbar.
Victory against Reading on Sunday will wrap up the Women's Super League title for Emma Hayes' team.
Chelsea made five changes after their Champions League semi-final victory three days ago, but there was no lack of understanding from Emma Hayes' side as Spurs defender Abbie McManus was forced to clear an early header off her own goal-line early on.
Spence, Sophie Ingle and Reiten all pulled saves out of the busy Spencer before Spurs fashioned their first real chance, as Lucy Quinn held off Magdelena Eriksson from a long ball forward before Berger denied her at her near post half an hour in.
The one-way traffic was almost unrepentant, but with the half-time whistle approaching Chelsea had still not found a way through.
The league's top scorer, Kerr, could not be denied forever though. With four minutes to go before the break, she met Reiten's low cross and fired in at the back post to finally put the visitors in front.
Less than two minutes after the break, they were within inches of a second, as Beth England's cross was nodded against the bar by Spence. Their cushion arrived minutes later as Kerr met Reiten's delivery to test Spencer with another header, before burying the ball on the rebound for her 20th goal of the campaign.
Tottenham needed a response having shown precious little in the opening 50 minutes and forced a save from Berger when Quinn moved in off the right and fired straight at the goalkeeper.
Hayes' priority turned to the fitness of her players ahead of their final-day showdown with Reading, and Champions League final clash with Barcelona a week later, and she rung the changes after the hour mark, which disrupted the flow of the game markedly.
The overworked Spencer had little to do in the final minutes while Rianna Dean fired wide on the volley for the hosts, who were grateful to hear the full-time whistle after being outclassed by their London rivals, and have now won only one of their last 11 games.
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes told BT Sport: "I think when you make five changes you disrupt something naturally, and I always think for players who don't play a lot, they don't have the rhythm.
"So it's easy to expect them to come in and fire on all cylinders, but the reality is it takes a bit of time to get up to speed.
"I thought we created a lot of chances, we just didn't execute and Becky Spencer kept a couple out. The timing of the first goal came when we needed it, and that settled everybody."
Tottenham travel to Birmingham, who could still leapfrog them in the table, in their final game of the season on Sunday; Kick-off at 2.30pm.
Chelsea host Reading, in a game which will seal the WSL title with victory, on Sunday; Kick-off at 2.30pm.
