Sam Kerr’s early header gave Chelsea a 3-1 victory over Leicester, securing a spot in next season’s Women’s Champions League and making the Australian the Blues’ all-time top scorer in the WSL.
Kerr, who is reported to be leaving the club this summer to join NWSL expansion side Denver Summit, got Chelsea off to a perfect start at the King Power Stadium, rising after 13 minutes to slot home Niamh Charles’ cross for her 64th goal in the top flight.
“This is a huge achievement for me. It will probably be felt in 10 years when I retire!” she later told BBC Sport. “Every goal is really important for me and to achieve it at a big club like Chelsea is really special.”
If she leaves west London, the Blues will have no shortage of another goal source with Lauren James coming into her own and adding to Chelsea’s second and third goals in true style before half-time.
The England winger first took a touch from 20 yards out before firing a stunning effort past a helpless Katy Keene, and six minutes later an unstoppable free-kick from inside the D’s head hit the underside of the crossbar and beat the young goalkeeper again.
Lauren James scores a great free-kick as Chelsea beat Leicester
“Two steps, not bad, right?” she joked to BBC Sport about her run-up. “I was looking to see where the keeper was and to be fair it was pretty close. Some guys thought I wouldn’t go over, but the keeper gave me the other side and I flew into the top corner.”
The game looked like a repeat of Leicester’s 7-0 win over Arsenal on Wednesday, but the hosts were gifted a goal just before half-time when Lucy Bronze’s blind back pass was intercepted by Shannon O’Brien, who beat an out-of-position Livia Penn with a smart finish.
Despite this blow, Sonia Bompastre was more than happy with the scoreline that saw both James and Erin Cuthbert out at half-time, but she may have wondered if she had been too early as the Foxes ran out of traps from the interval.
But that was only a short-lived worry for the Blues. The bottom-of-the-table hosts were unable to seriously test the pen again as the visiting team ran out a comfortable winner to secure a top-three finish and cement Champions League football next season.
Bompastor explains James’ halftime withdrawal
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastre told BBC Sport:
“Everyone knows Lauren’s qualities. No one needs to teach her those qualities. It’s great to see players like that. It’s a pleasure to have them in the team and for the fans as well.”
“It was part of the plan[to take her out]. But it’s good to take players off and they want to stay on the pitch, but today it was part of the plan to rotate a little bit and go into the FA Cup semi-final with fresh legs.”
“We are in a good position. We are playing with confidence. The training sessions during the week now have been very intense and we are in very good shape.”
“I’m very happy and our performance today was good. We can still demand a little more and control the game a little more, but the important thing was the result.”
Passmore: Halftime required work rate and passion.
Leicester head coach Rick Passmoor told BBC Sport:
“The standards for being a professional are work rate, passion and pride. When you play here in front of the fans and have them on the edge of their seats, they’ll be rooting for you. Those are the minimum standards.”
“Can we fight and overcome them? That gives us an opportunity to pass and make plays. We’re in a difficult position in terms of confidence and momentum.”
