Chelsea five points off WSL leaders Arsenal after easing past West Ham

Chelsea put their off-pitch worries to one side as they comfortably won 4-1 at West Ham to move five points off WSL leaders Arsenal, with two games in hand.

The WSL champions, whose Russian owner Roman Abramovich has been placed under sanctions by the British government, were not distracted at their London rivals despite Blues boss Emma Hayes admitting before the match it had been a "difficult day".

Chelsea scored twice in two minutes as Pernille Harder curled in their opener (21) before Niamh Charles' deflected volley from distance (23) gave West Ham goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold no chance.

Harder scored her second in the 32nd minute after heading in So-Yun Ji's delightfully clipped ball over the West Ham defence.

The home side pulled one back just three minutes into the second half through Dagny Brynjarsdottir, but any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Sam Kerr scored in the 63rd minute.

The victory sees Chelsea bounce back from Saturday's League Cup final defeat against Manchester City to keep up their WSL title defence.

Meanwhile, West Ham remain eighth with their 10-game unbeaten home run now over.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes spoke to Sky Sports before the match about the sanctions placed on Abramovich:

"There's no denying it's a difficult day, but I think it's important that we give it time. The club's put a statement out and I understand the club are working with the government to dissect the interpretation of that. I think for all of the questions everybody has - players, fans and staff - we have to give the club time to work through that.

"I think it's only right for the players to be able to switch off for 90 minutes in what has been a difficult day.

"I know from my end I'm a leader of this team and we're