Chelsea 6 LCFC Women 0: Pointless endeavour
Leicester City may have lost this game resoundingly, but they worked hard and there were a couple of positives - that’s about as much as you can hope for from a trip to face Chelsea.
I have no idea if this is perceived as a problem by anyone else but the WSL is two leagues in one.
There’s one worth watching, where the similar sides battle it out with each other and the games are often thrilling. Then there’s the other one with games like this, which are monumentally pointless if you’re a supporter of the weaker side.
From the start, you’re effectively trying to keep the goal difference down rather than having any chance of even a draw.
This defeat made it 20 out of 20 against the WSL’s top five teams since Leicester got promoted two years ago. Again, is that a problem? The likelihood is that we won’t even be the worst team in the division for a second year running.
In fairness, Leicester ran Arsenal close in our last outing. The same never looked likely here, but there were mitigating circumstances.
Because facing the title-chasing champions away from home a few days after they’ve beaten a mid-table team 7-0 isn’t the best time to be without your starting centre-backs.
Ashleigh Plumptre and Sophie Howard are always two of the most consistent and committed performers for Leicester City and it was always going to be tough to replace them.
Ruby Mace and Courtney Nevin, more accustomed this season to defensive midfielder and left-back roles respectively, formed the replacement pairing.
One player they wouldn’t have to face from the start was Sam Kerr, Chelsea’s Australian superstar striker rested with sterner tests ahead.
Nevertheless, Nevin was quickly called into action, cutting out Guro Reiten’s low cross from the left inside the first six minutes to concede what was already the third Chelsea corner of the game.
It took little more than a minute longer for Reiten to open the scoring. Pernille Harder turned Nevin in the inside right channel and Reiten steered the resulting ball into the far corner.
With Leicester all at sea, Chelsea wasted two further good chances through Harder and Erin Cuthbert before the clock even reached ten minutes.
This didn’t seem worthy of a write-up at all until the latter stages of the game when realisation gradually dawned that Leicester were still pushing and pressing their more illustrious opponents like the score was 0-0.
It wasn’t. It was 5-0 to Chelsea at the time, but the relentless work rate showed by this Leicester side is something worth shouting - and writing - about.
Of course, there’s still a slim chance goal difference could be crucial so there’s no way we wanted the four it had been at half time to become eight by the final whistle.
The high point of a difficult evening for Leicester was the introduction of two substitutes in particular - and they’re both players to give hope for the future.
Shannon O’Brien made her long-awaited return from injury to lead the line for the last 15 minutes. Her display was a reminder of how dangerous this team could be when O’Brien is paired with Hannah Cain in attack.
The other introduction saw 18-year-old Monique Robinson get a few minutes. Robinson is, along with England youth attacker Ava Baker, one of Leicester’s most promising young players and her dynamism in midfield looks set to be an asset for years to come.
Chelsea added a sixth in stoppage time. There was no consolation goal for Leicester despite chances for Aileen Whelan and CJ Bott.
The real consolation here was the reassurance that Reading’s final game is against Chelsea, meaning Leicester should only really need two points from the final two games to secure a third successive season of WSL football.
