A very pleasant afternoon at Kingsmeadow for the champions, then. Less so for Everton, who by the looks of things will soon be putting some clear-the-air discussions in the diary. Suzanne Wrack was at Kingsmeadow to watch Chelsea get back into the groove. Her report has landed, and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM.
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A second four-goal defeat certainly turns up the pressure on Willie Kirk. Our very own Suzanne Wrack has just sent me a screenshot of a quickly deleted tweet by Sarvar Ismailov, the sporting and commercial director of Everton Women. It was a pithy affair: “Unacceptable.”
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Erin Cuthbert, player of the match, is equally content. “We showed a real statement of intent today ... the fans were pushing us on all day and we really appreciated them ... I saw [the shot that led to the fourth goal] bounce out and I was gutted but it fell perfectly to Beth [England], she tapped it in, goal or assist, it doesn’t matter to me as long as the ball is in the net!”
Emma Hayes talks to the BBC. After rhapsodising about Jess Carter - “She’s got pace, composure, and the day-in, day-out mentality” - the Chelsea boss turns to her team as a whole. “Our football is getting better ... winning’s not boring ... we’ve got a style of play they’re all enjoying ... we’ve got the ability to overload inside and outside. Why? Because we’ve got a group of players who have worked with one manager for a long time and so it’s easy to tweak things.”
FULL TIME: Chelsea 4-0 Everton
The champions are up and running after last weekend’s cold start. Everton meanwhile fall to their second four-goal defeat in a row.
90 min +3: Duggan comes in from the left and rakes a long diagonal pass towards Gauvin, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. If Gauvin traps, she’ll have an excellent chance. She doesn’t. Goal kick.
90 min +2: Harder powers down the left and cuts infield. She sends a low screamer towards the far corner. Finnigan gets in the way to deflect out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
90 min +1: The first of five added minutes passes without incident.
90 min: Cuthbert, who has been exceptional again, just as the Scotland international was in the defeat at Arsenal, crosses from the right. England can’t quite get on the end of it.
89 min: Ingle, who probably shouldn’t still be on the pitch, has a blast from 25 yards. The shot goes 25 yards into the air.
87 min: Dali has a speculative dig from distance. It’s heading towards the bottom left, but not at any pace, and Berger claims with ease.
86 min: Nothing comes of it. Chelsea replace Bright, Reiten and Ji with Nouwen, Andersson and Spence.
85 min: Cuthbert again on the right. Her low cross is deflected out for a corner.
83 min: Cuthbert crosses from the right, hoping to find England, six yards out. She’s inches away from achieving her goal. Everton would like to hear the whistle right now.
82 min: “That’s a red,” writes Ruth Purdue. “What a ridiculously bad decision. What was actually yellow about it? And again, intent has nothing to do with it.”
80 min: A couple of Evertonian changes. Sorensen and Bennison make way for Seveke and Dali.
GOAL! Chelsea 4-0 Everton (England 79)
Reiten crosses deep from the left. Cuthbert meets it on the half volley and absolutely larrups a rising shot off the crossbar. The ball drops down to England, who taps home from a couple of yards. What a strike by Cuthbert!
77 min: Chelsea are coasting now, and make a double change, replacing the goalscorers Kerr and Kirby with Fleming and England.
75 min: Ingle is booked for a late slide on George. She went in hard with studs showing, catching George’s knee, and can count herself lucky not to be shown red.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 Everton (Kerr 74)
Ji sends Reiten away down the left. Reiten flashes a cross to the near post, where Kerr heads down powerfully into the bottom left. An inviting cross and one heck of a finish!
72 min: Another break in play as Cuthbert accidentally stands on Anvegard’s foot. The referee has a word with Cuthbert but nothing more.
71 min: Everton send on Gauvin to replace Emslie.
69 min: George is down and getting some treatment after taking a whack in the face while contesting that corner.
68 min: Carter concedes a needless corner. Emslie hits long. Duggan has a whack from distance, but it’s straight at Berger, who finally has something to do.
66 min: Harder and Kirby combine neatly down the right, the latter looking for Kerr at the near post. Kerr can’t quite connect and MacIver snaffles. This is relentless, though the end product is lacking.
65 min: ... and now Harder connects with a low right-wing cross, only to mishit slightly and send it wide left from ten yards. A third goal is surely just a matter of time.
63 min: Kerr nicks the ball off Christiansen and sends Kirby into space down the right. She crosses long. The ball ends up at the feet of Harder, who spins and smacks the ball off the base of the left-hand post. The ball cannons off the unsuspecting MacIver and away! Not sure how that didn’t go in. Chelsea will wonder how they’re only two up.
61 min: In fact that low driven cross went through MacIver’s legs! I have no idea how it didn’t take the nick that would have sent the net billowing.
60 min: Reiten wanders down the left and, upon reaching the byline, drives the ball at premium speed through the six-yard box. Any sort of touch and it’s in, but it somehow evades everyone in a crowded area.
58 min: An attacking change by Everton, who replace Galli with Duggan.
57 min: One corner leads to another, which leads to a clearance. Penny for the thought of Emma Hayes, who may be of the opinion that Kerr should have gone for goal herself, and put this game to bed.
56 min: Harder works her way down the left. She finds Kerr at the near post. Kerr only has MacIver to beat, but opts to roll across for Ji. It’s generous, and also the wrong decision, as Finnigan is able to nick the ball out for a corner.
55 min: A rare sortie upfield by Evertobn. Sorensen crosses from the right. Bright bashes a header clear. Small acorns, all that.
53 min: Everton steady the ship a little. Chelsea haven’t manufactured anything for two minutes.
51 min: Finnigan, her head swimming after that egregious error, nearly makes another fatal mistake. She dallies in the box with the ball at her feet, unaware that Harder is bearing down. Harder nicks the ball and takes a snapshot from six yards; the Everton defender is grateful to see the effort fly wide right.
50 min: Kerr makes good down the left and nearly tees up Harder in the middle for a tap-in. Not quite, but Everton are seriously rocking here.
49 min: The sweet tang of blood hits Chelsea’s nostrils. Kirby hits a cross-cum-shot from the right. It nearly floats into the bottom left. Had that been on target, MacIver wasn’t getting to it. As it is, it’s a goal kick.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Everton (Kerr 47)
A farcical error by Finnigan. MacIver, on the right edge of the D, rolls a pass towards the defender, who is on the left. Finnigan tries to return the ball to her keeper, but only cushions it into the road of Kerr, standing in between the pair. Kerr rolls the gift into the open goal.
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46 min: Ingle immediately nicks the ball and sets Chelsea on the attack. Reiten glides in from the left and sends a wild shot miles high and way right. She smiles ruefully.
Everton get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time reading.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 1-0 Everton
There’s no stoppage time, and so the whistle goes for the end of the first half. Chelsea deservedly lead, having dominated. Everton will be reasonably happy to have limited the damage to one goal, and a good goal at that.
45 min: Kirby cuts back from the byline on the right. Ji, racing in, shanks a shot high and wide left. She cocks her head back and grimaces in irritation; that was a decent chance.
43 min: Anvegard cheekily nutmegs Bright down the left, but Carter comes across to blooter clear. This is better from Everton, though.
42 min: Christiansen tries to release Turner down the left, but Cuthbert slides in with a cruncher, putting an end to Everton’s scheme.
40 min: A lull, which Everton will take.
38 min: Kirby dribbles down the middle before slipping the ball left to Harder. She slashes a shot into the side netting from a tight angle. MacIver might have got a fingertip to that, but Chelsea aren’t getting the corner either way.
36 min: Harder takes a shot only to hit her own player Kerr. Hey, Everton can do with all the help they can get.
35 min: Kirby skitters down the right and looks for Kerr in the middle. Christiansen does very well to get in the road and block, just as Kerr was preparing to smack a shot goalwards.
33 min: Chelsea are knocking on the door, looking for the second. Kerr doesn’t quite connect with her shot as she strides into the box, allowing MacIver to claim. Then Harder whistles a diagonal shot wide right of the target. Everton capitulated at speed against Manchester City last week; they’ll be doing the same again here unless they’re very careful.
31 min: MacIver, on her line, is very nearly stripped of possession by the inrushing Kerr. She flicks the ball away just in time. For a second there, it looked as though the Chelsea striker would block her clearance and trundle the ball home.
29 min: That’s taken a fair bit of wind out of the Everton sail. The visitors weren’t exactly threatening, but at least they were enjoying a little more possession after a slow start. No more.
27 min: Kirby’s shot might - stress might - have taken a small nick off the top of Finnigan’s head en route to goal. But it was surely going in anyway. It was a glorious effort.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Everton (Kirby 25)
This is class! Chelsea paint pretty triangles down the middle of the pitch. The ball’s shuttled wide left to Ji, who slides a pass down the channel for Kirby. She takes a touch inside to see off a spinning Bjorn, then opens her body to arc a shot across MacIver and into the far corner. That’s a magnificent goal from start to finish.
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23 min: Harder is suddenly back on top of her game, because now she glides down the right and fires low towards the near post. She’s looking for Kerr, who is on the back foot, and MacIver smothers again.
22 min: ... but suddenly Harder picks up the pace, sashaying down the inside-left channel with the ball glued to her boot. It comes unstuck as she enters the box, allowing Bjorn to nudge her off the direct route to goal, and MacIver to come off her line to claim. Such an exciting run, though.
21 min: This has gone a bit flat, tell the truth.
19 min: Everton are beginning to enjoy a little more possession. They’re not doing too much with it, but they’re growing into the game against the “best team in the country” (copyright Willie Kirk).
17 min: An aimless long ball flies out of play for an Everton goal kick. On the touchline, Emma Hayes cuts a pensive figure in lieu of an early breakthrough.
15 min: MacIver races out of her box, sliding and clearing just before Kirby can reach a loose ball. Chelsea continue to dominate.
13 min: Everton finally get something going in attack, Sorensen driving down the right and looking for Anvegard up front. Carter shuts the door. Emslie has another look down the right, but her cross evades everyone.
12 min: Harder strides down the inside-left channel at warp speed. She’s allowed far too much time and space when she nears the box, and Everton are fortunate that she drags her low drive well wide left.
10 min: A free kick for Chelsea out on the left. Reiten swings it into a crowded mixer. Turner clears with a towering header. Everton are hanging on a bit here.
9 min: Kerr steals the ball of a dozing Finnigan and barrels down the inside-right channel. She enters the box and shoots low and hard towards the bottom right. MacIver does well to block.
7 min: She takes. Eriksson rises highest but sends her header wide left. That was a good chance for the Chelsea captain, and she’ll be disappointed not to get that on target at the very least.
6 min: Cuthbert passes long from a deep position on the right, forcing Bjorn to head behind for the first corner of the match. Cuthbert to take.
4 min: Everton are struggling to retain possession at the moment, with Chelsea pressing hard. The ball breaks to Ji, who has a belt from distance. Christiansen does well to block.
2 min: Chelsea are quickly on the attack, Harder and Ingle combining down the left, former cutting in from the wing, the latter slipping the ball down the channel to Kirby, just outside the D. Kirby drags her shot wide left. Not her finest effort, but that was a lovely move.
Chelsea get the party started ... but only after the players take the knee to warm applause. Black lives matter.
The teams are out! The defending champions take to the Kingsmeadow pitch as the Liquidator booms out of the PA. Chelsea wear their blue, so Everton are forced into their white change strip. This is happening.
Emma Hayes and Willie Kirk talk to the BBC. After opening day defeats, both are keen to emphasise how their teams are still works in progress. “Everybody blows the first game of the season out of proportion, we’ve only been together as a group for three weeks,” says Hayes. “It takes time to build the relationships, the communications and interactions with each other, and I expect that to be more advanced than it was last week. Meanwhile Kirk points out that “when the fixtures came out we’ll get an early gauge of how close we are and how much work we still need to do and that’ll be the case again today.”
The teams
Chelsea: Berger, Carter, Eriksson, Bright, Reiten, Ji, Ingle, Kerr, Mosegaard-Harder, Kirby, Cuthbert.
Subs: Musovic, Nouwen, Leupolz, England, Fleming, Charles, Spence, Andersson, Fox.
Everton: MacIver, Bennison, Bjorn, Finnigan, Gabrielle George, Turner, Izzy Christiansen, Galli, Emslie, Anvegard, Sorensen.
Subs: Sevecke, Dali, Duggan, Gauvin, Brosnan, Clinton, Pattinson.
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Preamble
Chelsea’s title defence started with defeat last week, as Emma Hayes’ side went down 3-2 at Arsenal in the first big six-pointer of this season’s WSL. The Gunners were a wee bit sharper thanks to their participation in the Champions League qualifiers, though Chelsea will take heart from the display of their Scotland midfielder Erin Cuthbert, who slotted a fine goal and set up another for Pernille Harder. Everton meanwhile opened with a 4-0 defeat at home to a Manchester City side without several big names, a deflating result after a promising sequence of pre-season wins. The fixture list hasn’t been kind to Everton, who now face another of the top teams in Europe … but any sort of result against the champions will give a squad who have set their sights on Champions League qualification a massive boost.
Kick off: 12.30pm BST.
