Chelsea barely turned up for the tie against Liverpool on Wednesday despite walking away 2-1 winners. Sam Kerr was the heroine of the night when her last-minute finish found the bottom corner to seal the win - Jesse Fleming's effort had struck the upright and fell perfectly for Kerr to capitalise.
But it wasn't a strong night for the Blues, the 86th minute was the first time they took charge of the game. The home crowd were stunned into silence when Emma Koivisto gave the visitor the lead within two minutes of play. She had a free header at the back post and nodded the ball into the back of Ann-Katrin Berger’s net.
Eve Perisset drilled a corner towards the near post, where Niamh Charles nudged the ball home just before the break to bring Chelsea back into the game, despite being outplayed by Liverpool and kept at bay by Faye Kirby.
It was a good enough performance to claw three points but the performance lacked their usual ruthless edge in the first half, which led to sloppy and lacklustre play from the Blues.
The draw means Chelsea stay in third place of the Women’s Super League standings, four points behind the league leaders and two games in hand on the hunt down of Manchester United to retain their WSL title.
Player Ratings
Ann-Katrin Berger - Could’ve got down quicker to cover her bottom corner for the early goal, more communication was needed. Quick to distribute, and didn’t let the goal phase her. 6
Jess Carter – Lazy defending early on that led to the Liverpool goal early on, the ball was played past her too easily. Quiet game after that. 6
Melanie Leupolz - Strong and held the middle of the part well. Quiet game though. 7
Lauren James - Did well to steal the ball off the toes of Liverpool players and graced us with yet another display of her magic feet and feints just lacked some passion and ruthlessness. 7
Guro Reiten - Worked hard down the left flank producing crosses and attempts on target first half. 7
Eve Perisset - Delivered solid corner that was so fast and direct to assist the equaliser. She enjoys the long-range balls and took chances from far out. Last ditch effort to deny Liverpool another goal was heroic. 8
Magda Eriksson - Stood Liverpool well but let Van De Sanden get the wrong side of her and get through on goal. 7
Jesse Fleming - Nice, quality through balls forward to Reiten. 7
Sam Kerr - Perfectly timed her runs to split the defensive line and was unlucky not to capitalise early on. Was swarmed in red shirts every time she touched the ball against a back five, looked frustrating for her but she kept going. Scored the winning goal. 8
Niamh Charles - Scored the equaliser capitalising on a corner and heading it in at the near post. 7
Erin Cuthbert - Quiet first half, sprayed the ball around well second half and commanded the middle more. 7
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