Chelsea got back to winning ways in the Women's Super League on Sunday, beating Tottenham 2-0 to avoid inflicting further damage on their hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League. Back-to-back league defeats for the first time since 2015 and Arsenal's surprise win over runaway leaders Manchester City had left the Blues, who have won each of the last six WSL titles, outside the three European spots before kick-off in north London, but goals from Keira Walsh and Alyssa Thompson allowed them to leapfrog the Gunners into third place with seven games to go.
Spurs are having an excellent first season under new head coach Martin Ho and were only a point behind Chelsea going into this game, making it a real opportunity for the WSL's surprise package to firmly cement themselves as a contender for a Champions League place. They should've made it count, too, as Ho's side were the better team in the first half and created several good chances, with Olivia Holdt hitting the bar with a fantastic effort. However, they were missing a clinical touch and Chelsea would punish them for that.
Six minutes before half-time, Walsh provided the sucker-punch, sweetly firing a rasping half-volley through a sea of bodies and into the back of a Tottenham goal that had not been troubled much, not since Walsh's sensational pass to Johanna Rytting Kaneryd early in the game forced goalkeeper Lize Kop to intervene. It sparked big celebrations in the dugout from Blues boss Sonia Bompastor, who had to answer questions about her future following last week's chastening loss to Man City.
Chelsea clearly do not have doubts about Bompastor's ability to continue to progress this team and deliver success after announcing that the Frenchwoman had signed a new contract until 2030 on Friday. Two days later, her side put in a second-half performance more fitting of the one that won an unprecedented unbeaten domestic treble last term.
Thompson's emphatic finish just five minutes after the break put the game firmly in Chelsea's control and, although Cathinka Tandberg really should've halved the deficit later on, an important win was all-but secured at that point, putting the Blues back inside the top three.
GOAL rates Chelsea's players from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium...