Chelsea keep heat on Gunners at WSL summit with cruise against Everton

Chelsea cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Women’s Super League to two points with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Everton.

First-half goals from Sam Kerr, Guro Reiten and Erin Cuthbert ensured the visiting team, who have a game in hand over their London rivals, remained hot on the heels of the Gunners.

Hosts Everton boast a squad that arguably should be further up the table, but wholesale changes in the summer, with nine incoming players, ruptured the momentum of the team and resulted in the sacking of Willie Kirk and the recruitment of former Lyon manager Jean-Luc Vasseur.

Everton had won back-to-back games for the first time since October prior to the visit of Chelsea, contributing to over 35% of the team’s points tally. In the most recent, they came from a goal behind to earn a 3-2 win over Leicester thanks to a goal from Toni Duggan and a double from Swede Anna Anvegård. Having dispensed with Vasseur at the start of February, the fortunes of the club looked to be turning under Chris Roberts, who has temporarily stepped up from assistant.

In the reverse fixture Chelsea scored four at Kingsmeadow, but a tough game on Sunday saw them reliant on an injury-time goal from Kerr to squeeze past Aston Villa.

Cuthbert had said that game was “the type of game that wins you championships” and that it had “given the team a lot of energy”. “I feel like we really need to use that against Everton and use it as momentum to now kick on,” she added.

If Chelsea were fearful of slipping away from league leaders Arsenal there was no sign of it at Walton Hall Park. Kerr ensured Chelsea got in front early on. Just six minutes in, the dynamic Australian forward glanced in a cross from defensive midfielder Sophie Ingle for her 12th goal in the