Lucy Bronze endured a nightmare outing for Chelsea in their WSL clash with Aston Villa, but the legendary Lionesses defender saw her blushes spared by Sjoeke Nusken in a chaotic seven-goal thriller that ended 4-3. Sam Kerr, Naomi Girma and Lauren James were also on target for the Blues in a topsy-turvy encounter that means their title defence is not yet officially over.
There were less than two minutes on the clock when the visiting Villans broke the deadlock in west London. Bronze’s ill-judged square pass was easily cut out by Chasity Grant, and she continued her run into the box allowing for a low cross to be swept home at the near post.
Chelsea took control of proceedings from there and were good value for their equaliser in the 20th minute as Nusken threaded a pass into Kerr and the Australian forward fired beyond Ellie Roebuck – who had been wrong-footed.
The Blues were in front three minutes later as, following a short corner, USWNT star Girma got the faintest of touches to a whipped cross from James. Chelsea’s No.10 got her name on the scoresheet four minutes after that as she drifted inside off the right wing and drilled a low left-footed drive into the back of the net from 25 yards out.
Rather than wilt under pressure, Villa grabbed a lifeline just past the half-hour mark when Kirsty Hanson raced behind and beyond Bronze and turned home a cross drilled over from the right. Hanson then levelled matters in the 35th minute when a Bronze header looped into the air and was fed back for the Scottish striker to fire a dripping volley into the bottom corner.
A tight offside call denied Kerr a penalty after the restart, after she was tripped by Roebuck – who later left the field in tears after picking up an injury – while Hanson came agonisingly close to completing her hat-trick when crashing a long-range strike off the angle of post and crossbar.
Chelsea, who have been WSL champions across six consecutive seasons, finally dragged themselves over the line with eight minutes remaining when Kerr cleverly cushioned the ball into the path of Nusken and she stroked a pinpoint shot into the top corner from the edge of the box.
GOAL rates Chelsea’s players from Kingsmeadow…
