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Football London
Football London
Sport
Hannah Pinnock

Fran Kirby hails 'rewarding' Chelsea performance against Leicester City after 8-0 WSL demolition

Chelsea star Fran Kirby has praised their 'rewarding' performance against Leicester City in the Barclays Women's Super League.

The Blues returned to the top of the table with an 8-0 thumping of their opponents, but weren't able to match their 9-0 rout at the King Power last season. Regardless, Emma Hayes ' side put in another fine performance as they continue their incredible run of form.

Guro Reiten opened the scoring inside the opening few minutes, before Jessie Fleming doubled their lead shortly after. A 10-minute spell before half-time saw Kirby, Niamh Charles and Sam Kerr all get on the scoresheet.

READ MORE: Emma Hayes makes huge Chelsea squad claim after Real Madrid Champions League triumph

Fleming scored her second of the afternoon shortly in the second half, Beth England then made it seven with a bullet header on 75 minutes. Kirby rounded off the performance with her second goal of the game with minutes left on the clock.

The England international described it as a rewarding result, given Willie Kirk's side continued to play football despite the goals flooding in.

"We know this team has a lot of quality," Kirby said post-match. "Leicester also have a lot of quality. Today it could have been really easy for Leicester to shut up shop and start kicking the ball long.

"They didn't do that. They want to play and they want to play the right way. I prefer to play against that, I prefer to play against a team that want to build from the back regardless of if they're getting beat.

"It shows they're trying to build and do the right things. For me, that's more rewarding than beating a team when they just kick the ball long. It's a credit to them they kept playing the way they do, they have a style and they want to maintain it."

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