Chelsea reclaimed second place in the Women’s Super League after clinching a seven-goal thriller at Kingsmeadow thanks to Sjoeke Nusken’s winning strike.
Sonia Bompastor’s side are nine points behind WSL leaders Manchester City and aiming to secure a place in the Women’s Champions League next season.
Today’s match looked to be going against them after they surrendered a 3-1 lead to Villa only for Nusken to fire home the winner eight minutes from full-time.
Villa took the early lead after Lucy Bronze gave the ball away to Chasity Grant who, in combination with Lynn Wilms, slotted the ball past Hannah Hampton at the near post with less than two minutes on the clock.
Chelsea responded in the 20th minute through Sam Kerr who burst through the Villa lines to meet Nusken’s pass and guide home the equaliser from the left side of the box.
Those goals kicked started a thrilling seven minutes as Chelsea first went ahead, through Naomi Girma’s first ever WSL goal, before Lauren James increased the lead to 3-1.
Yet, Villa fought back through a quickfire brace from Kirsty Hanson who twice got on the end of crosses from Wilms to level the match at 3-3 inside the opening 35 minutes.
The game settled down after the half-time break with the second half dominated by Chelsea’s control. Alyssa Thompson came close to scoring but headed over the crossbar from four yards out before Nusken settled the clash and collected the three points.
“I think it was a tough game for us, and we are very happy we could score at the end,” the midfielder told Sky Sports after the win.
“The last 10 minutes we did a lot of pressure, so I think in the end it was a deserved win. They are a really good team. They scored three goals against us so I think they’re showing what they can.”
She added: “It was a tough game, really intense. Aston Villa showed what they could do. We fought well in the end and I think it was a deserved win.
“We tried to keep the balance [between attack and defence] with our midfield. It was a balance between going up and down with our midfield but I think we did it really well and we didn’t concede any transitions in the end.”
In Sunday’s other WSL matches, West Ham United were held to a 1-1 draw at home by London City Lionesses, while bottom side Leicester City take on Brighton & Hove Albion later at 2.50pm.
