Stamford Bridge played host to a well-contested match between WSL Champions Chelsea and Liverpool that ended 1-0 to confirm ana invincible season for the Blues.
An injury-time goal from Aggie Beever-Jones was enough to secure the victory for her side, scoring her 12th goal in all competitions this season.
The First Half – Liverpool’s resilient defence
The first big chance came in the 14th minute as a great bit of play between Niamh Charles and Sjoeke Nüsken led to the latter finding some space down the left wing. The German struck a menacing ball across goal that nobody in blue was able to reach.
Half an hour in, the Blues were dominating possession, having 64% of the ball. Despite this, they had registered the same number of shots as Liverpool, showing they had not been able to use the larger share of possession to their advantage so far.
Liverpool had defended the majority of Chelsea’s attacks very well, a lot of which had consisted of crosses into the box so far. Chelsea were winning the second balls from these attacks – something Liverpool would have to amend.
The Blues were starting to move forward more consistently, but often struggled to make the final pass or pull the trigger, as the visitors were able to defend their box successfully in the opening 40 minutes.
Chelsea were inches away from taking a lead into half time as Wieke Kaptein’s backheeled attempt drifted just wide of Rachel Laws’ right post following a strong run from Sandy Baltimore.
The two sides would go into half-time level. Liverpool would certainly have been the more pleased of the two at half-time as despite being dominated on the possession front by the Blues, they had not faced many threatening moments in the first half, mostly due to their solid defensive display so far.
The Second half – History is made
The second half saw the Blues get off to a much faster start than they did in the opening 45 minutes, with two big chances coming in the first ten minutes of the half.
The first of these was created by the two half-time substitutes Erin Cuthbert and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, who had been brought on for Kaptein and Nathalie Björn, respectively the Swede played the ball through to Cuthbert, who was about to pull the trigger before Taylor Hinds made a potentially goal-preventing challenge to keep the game level.
Only a minute later, Chelsea came the closest that they had done all game as Sandy Baltimore struck the ball from just outside the box. Her effort went just wide of the right post, much to Laws’ relief, as she was rooted to the spot when the shot was taken.
A worrying moment for Liverpool fans saw Olivia Smith forced to exit the pitch, having to be helped by the medical team. It was a large blow to Liverpool’s chances in this game as they would now have to play the remaining twenty minutes without their top scorer in the WSL this season.
It was one-way traffic for large periods in the second half as the Blues were on the hunt for a winning goal, bringing on more firepower in the form of Catarina Macario and Guro Reiten, with Baltimore and Nüsken making way.
Niamh Fahey was brought on in the 83rd minute by Liverpool to make her final WSL appearance before retiring. The Ireland international and former Chelsea player entered to a large applause from the away end.
Liverpool had defended so well for the entirety of the match, but despite their best efforts, they could not prevent the Blues from scoring as Aggie Beever-Jones ran on to the end of the ball on the right wing, cut inside and blasted her attempt in at the near post to win the game for the Blues.
Chelsea would see out the result, earning themselves the title of invincibles as the Blues continue their dominance in the WSL.
The Teams:
Chelsea: H. Hampton, L. Bronze (A. Lawrence 83′), M. Bright, N. Girma, N. Bjorn (J.R. Kaneryd 46′), N. Charles, W. Kaptein (E. Cuthbert 46′), K. Walsh, S. Nusken (C. Macario 72′), S. Baltimore (G. Reiten 72′), A. Beever-Jones
Booked: L. Bronze
Unused Substitutes: K. Cox, M. Hamano, M. Fishel, G. Reiten, A. Lawrence, C. Macario, O. Jean-Francois, E. Cuthbert
Liverpool: R. Laws, G. Evans, G. Fisk (N. Fahey 84′), G. Bonner, T. Hinds, S. Kerr, F. Nagano (J. Matthews 83′), O. Smith (J. Clark 69′), M. Höbinger, C. Holland (C. Kapocs 76′), S. Haug (Y. Daniels 76′)
Booked: M. Höbinger
Unused Substitutes: T. Micah, F. Kirby, M. Enderby