The Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, has called for Women’s Super League clubs to offer more support to players who have babies.
Hayes’ comments came after the Chelsea midfielder, Melanie Leupolz, made her first start for the club since returning from maternity leave in the WSL home win over Brighton on Wednesday.
“If a player tears an ACL, you do everything possible to get them back on the pitch in nine to 12 months,” Hayes told Sky Sports. “We should be exactly the same with a woman that has a baby, but we don’t. I think we have to ask ourselves more seriously why that is.”
Leupolz played for 81 minutes as Chelsea eased to a 3-1 win, cutting the gap to the league leaders, Manchester United, to one point with a game in hand. The two title-chasing teams will face off at Kingsmeadow this Sunday.
Hayes made seven changes from the team who lost the Continental Cup final to Arsenal and got a reaction from her players. Guro Reiten’s early penalty and goals from Jess Carter and Johanna Kaneryd put the result beyond doubt before Danielle Carter’s late consolation for the struggling visitors.
Before the game, Leupolz had praised Chelsea for “doing much more than they had to do” in helping manage her return to the first team. “Other clubs should take Chelsea as an [example] and ask questions about how we did it because, in my experience, they were super,” the German international added.
WSL players now receive maternity cover as part of an agreement between the FA and PFA, but that only came into effect from the 2022-23 season and was not in place when Leupolz announced her pregnancy early last year.
“Emma has a child herself and she knows what’s important,” Leupolz added. “We had a catch-up every two weeks, talked about my training programme, and how I can get back to my strength and fitness after birth.” Leupolz was offered a contract extension during her pregnancy, and has also received support from a pelvic floor coach.
Chelsea took an early lead on Wednesday evening when Sam Kerr earned a spot-kick after being brought down by Zoe Morse in the 12th minute, although replays suggested Kerr should have been flagged offside. Guro Reiten stepped up to convert the penalty, and then turned provider as Carter slotted home from her corner.
Jelena Cankovic then hit the bar with an ambitious chip, and Kerr had a goal ruled out for offside as Chelsea kept the pressure on before half-time. In the second half, Elisabeth Terland struck the bar for Brighton, who parted company with manager Jens Scheuer this week after just two months in charge.
The struggling Seagulls fell further behind in the 73rd minute, as Kerr squared for Kaneryd to tap in Chelsea’s third. Danielle Carter pulled one back in the 88th minute for the visitors, but Brighton remain in relegation trouble, two points above the bottom club, Leicester City.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s potentially title-deciding clash, Hayes said: “We know it will be a sell-out here on Sunday. It’ll be a great game. We have a plan for [United], but I’m not going to talk about that on TV!”
Arsenal followed up their Continental Cup final success with a 2-0 home victory over Liverpool. Stina Blackstenius and Caitlin Foord struck in the first half for the hosts, who boosted their faint title hopes by ending a three-game winless run in the league.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Utd Women | 14 | 30 | 35 |
| 2 | Chelsea Women | 13 | 26 | 34 |
| 3 | Man City Women | 14 | 17 | 32 |
| 4 | Arsenal Women | 13 | 21 | 29 |
| 5 | Aston Villa Women | 14 | 1 | 23 |
| 6 | Everton Women | 13 | 2 | 19 |
| 7 | West Ham Women | 14 | -8 | 16 |
| 8 | Liverpool FC Women | 13 | -12 | 11 |
| 9 | Reading Women | 14 | -14 | 10 |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur Women | 13 | -11 | 9 |
| 11 | Brighton & Hove Albion Women | 12 | -27 | 8 |
| 12 | Leicester Women | 13 | -25 | 6 |
The hosts went ahead through Blackstenius’ thumping effort from outside the box after 28 minutes. Foord doubled Arsenal’s lead six minutes later when she was on hand to tap home a rebound after Blackstenius’s powerful shot was parried back into play by Rachael Laws.
