Advertisement

Bethany England demonstrates why she is WSL's most feared striker with two goals in Chelsea's big win at Birmingham

Bethany England impressed as Chelsea maintained their unbeaten form in the league this season - Chelsea FC
Bethany England impressed as Chelsea maintained their unbeaten form in the league this season - Chelsea FC

Birmingham 0-6 Chelsea

The languid ease with which Bethany England converted Chelsea’s sixth, still with half an hour left to go, epitomised not only why a player who only earned her first senior England call-up in August 2019 is probably the most-feared striker in the Women’s Super League right now but why Chelsea, and their ruthless, almost mechanical efficiency, are the only side still unbeaten in the league this season.

It took Chelsea two and three minutes respectively to open the scoring in either half, the second so similar to the one before that you could have set your watch by England’s gamboling runs from wide, or Millie Bright’s drilled balls over the top, by Drew Spence leaping into the header and the ball rolling in near-identical fashion into the far corner. The match of the league’s second-best attack with its joint-second most generous defence looked exactly how one would expect that to look, Chelsea swinging in unopposed like VIPs into an inviting, obliging nightclub.

First there was Ji’s free-kick, 180 seconds in, sailing into the top corner despite the faintest of touches from Birmingham goalkeeper Hannah Hampton. If there is any consolation for Birmingham it is that there was a half an hour spell, inside the first half, where they did not look like a team about to fall to their fifth league defeat in seven.

The bad news is that there were at least six other instances - particularly the three clinically-taken goals that put the game beyond their reach inside the first half - where they did look like a team about to fall to their fifth league defeat in seven.

The warning signs were there when Bright coasted in from halfway, brushing off defenders like breadcrumbs on her lap, and drove from the edge of area into the far corner. It was little consolation for Birmingham that bar the free kick Hampton had not had a save to make up until that point, and that they had drawn Chelsea full back Maren Mjelde into sliding saves from Abbi Grant and Harriet Scott.

Millie Bright struck Chelsea's second - Credit: Getty Images
Millie Bright struck Chelsea's second Credit: Getty Images

England demonstrated her lightness of touch to bring down Bright’s lofted delivery and have it slammed into the far corner within two touches. She turned provider, a smart, inch-perfect backheel into the path of Drew Spence, for Chelsea’s fourth, an instance of the zipping and gliding that made it so obvious why Emma Hayes wants her Chelsea side to become the heir to Arsenal’s men’s Invincibles team of the early 2000s. Spence’s powerful header from Ji’s cross made it five before England, 18 minutes into the second half, absent-mindedly roll home Chelsea’s sixth after ducking beneath her marker.

Birmingham (4-3-3):Hampton; Jordan, Holloway, Scott, Simpkin; Arthur, Whipp, Staniforth; Walker Schofield, Grant (Gregory 68)

Subs not used:Williams, Brooks, Rabjohn

Chelsea (4-3-3): Berger; Mjelde, Bright, Eriksson, Andersson; Spence (Carter 66), Ingle (Murphy 78), Ji (Blundell 61); Bachmann, England, Reiten

Subs not used: Cooper, Cuthbert, Telford (g), Wardlaw

Referee: Stacey Pearson

Att: 1,159