Yahoo News Chelsea smash seven past Servette in Switzerland as Mjelde returns from injury on perfect evening for Blues
Chelsea hammered seven goals past Servette to lay down a big marker in their Uefa Women’s Champions League group.
The Swiss side have already suffered 5-0 and 3-0 defeats to Wolfsburg and Juventus, respectively, in their campaign but Chelsea blew them away like no other with a six-goal lead at the break.
Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr both score twice to emphatically deliver on manager Emma Hayes’ pre-game demand of her Blues that they be “relentless” even while leading.
Hayes subsequently saw her team refuse to drop down a fear following Melanie Leupolz’s eighth-minute strike. Three goals came in a flurry between the 16th and 20th minutes, starting with Kirby firing past Ines Pereira having been teed up by Kerr.
Two minutes later Kerr got on the scoresheet herself with a close-range finish from Leupolz’s cut-back, and the Australian then swiftly netted again for 4-0, prodding in following a lofted ball from Kirby.
Kirby dinked in number five in the 26th minute. Jessie Fleming then struck past Pereira from a tight angle to make it 6-0 with seven minutes to go before the break.
Five minutes into the second-half, the advantage was extended further as Kerr sent the ball across the box, Kirby left it and Guro Reiten side-footed in.
While further goals looked more than likely at that point, the closest Chelsea got to an eighth was Drew Spence rattling the bar with a shot in the 64th minute, shortly before Hayes brought on Maren Mjelde for her long-awaited return to action after injury.
Chelsea now have seven points from three Group A games, having previously drawn 3-3 with Wolfsburg and then won 2-1 at Juventus. Their next match in the pool is against Servette at Kingsmeadow a week on Thursday.
“It was a great performance,” said Hayes.
“I thought the drive, the determination, the energy, the movement, the precision of our passing - all of those things contributed to a very, very good first-half performance. I thought it was a great team effort.”
The manager reserved special praise for Norwegian defender Mjelde, who made her first appearance since suffering a serious knee injury in March.
“I want to talk about Maren Mjelde, coming back in the team after so many months,” added Hayes. “She put so many hours in behind the scenes, the staff and the team that helped her get back to this level are so over the moon for Maren tonight.”
Additional reporting by PA Media.
Read More
Man City 0-3 Chelsea: Emma Hayes’ side through to Women’s FA Cup final at holders’ expense
