Women’s Super League: talking points from the weekend’s action

Chelsea meant business at the King Power Stadium on Sunday, scoring nine times and securing their 12th clean sheet of the season against Lydia Bedford’s Leicester. The last time these two met it was a nippy February evening in the FA Cup where Chelsea racked up a similar tally of goals (seven). A repeat performance from Leicester’s leaky defence wasn’t going to go unpunished. Guro Reiten kicked off the scoring with a beautiful free-kick that curled past Demi Lambourne. Ten minutes later, Sam Kerr, Aniek Nouwen and Bethany England had added to the count. At 5-0, things were already looking fairly bleak for the hosts; they were pegged back another four times before the final whistle was blown. The result puts Chelsea at the summit of the WSL for the first time this season with five games left to play. MN

The decision of Manchester United to host struggling Everton at Old Trafford was a shrewd one. Often, clubs have hosted their biggest derby rivals or closest competitors at their main stadia in order to help draw a crowd. That can backfire though, as suffering a disappointing defeat could, unfortunately, put people off coming back or making the trip to Leigh Sports Village where the team play week-in week-out. Against Everton it had looked like United would do just that as Claire Emslie’s fourth-minute goal gave the visiting team the lead but United turned the game on its head, earning a 3-1 win to remain unbeaten in two games at the Theatre of Dreams. In the quest to make the team feel at home on the big stage, winning goes a long way, and United have begun the process of making Old Trafford a second home, not an alien one. SW

The postponement of Arsenal’s showpiece game against Tottenham at the Emirates because of a