One Point Gained or Two Points Dropped

Brighton & Hove Albion vs Chelsea-23rd January 2022 Women’s Super League

Line ups:

Brighton: Walsh, Kerkdijk, Williams, Kullberg, Koivisto, Le Tissier, Connolly, Green, Kaagman, Carter, Whelan

Chelsea: Berger, Carter, Bright, Nouwen, Cuthbert, Spence, Andersson, Reiten, Fleming, Harder, Kirby

The blues travelled down to the peoples pension stadium to face 8th place Brighton & Hove Albion on the 23rd of January 2022. Chelsea went into the match just four points behind league leaders Arsenal. Brighton started the half on the back foot. A counter attack created the seagulls only shot in the first half as Danielle Carter touched the ball to the right and let fire from distance. The knuckling ball made it awkward for the keeper between the sticks but the German dealt with the effort well. Despite dominating 70% of possession and having 10 shots in the first half Chelsea failed to steer the ball into the home goal.

A looping through ball found Harder charging towards the byline. She attempts to cut the ball back into the danger zone with Kirby turning athletically flicking the ball onto Guro Reiten who toed the ball just past the post. Fran Kirby’s effort after breaking the clutches of Danique Kerkdijk and Maya Le Tissier came close as she struck the ball before entering the penalty area forcing Megan Walsh to to make another quality save this time with her left foot.

Poor finishing continued into the second half for the London club with a further 16 attempts on goal with only 3 hitting the target. An effort from Cuthbert rattled the advertising board behind the goal as the ball rocketed past the near post. Cuthbert’s luck failed to improve with a thunderous second effort striking the left side of the crossbar after Victoria Williams clearance fell short.

Chelsea drop down to third as Manchester United successfully secure all 3 points. The top of the table is very tight with only 5 points between 1st and 5th place. Chelsea have the best opportunity to secure a champions league position with 2 games in hand. By Jordan Colborne.