Why Chelsea are so powerful when trophy season nears.
Their relentless schedule shows no signs of slowing but Hayes appears to have an answer for every challenge thrown Chelsea’s way.
Mirroring Friday’s impressive win over Arsenal, Lauren James scored the opener in Amsterdam before Sjoeke Nusken found the net twice as Chelsea secured a fifth win in 16 days – five games into their eight in March. April looks busy too.
Should they maintain this formidable form, a historic quadruple is well and truly on. The Blues have won each of their last three away outings in the league without conceding, that’s despite suffering a heavy casualty list: Sam Kerr, Mia Fishel, Mayra Ramirez, Millie Bright, Natalie Bjorn and Maren Mjelde are among those sidelined.
That matters less when you have the depth of quality Chelsea have, though. There has been a huge step up from James this season – only Khadija Shaw (17) has scored more WSL goals than the Chelsea starlet (13) – while Nusken, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Melanie Leupolz have also been standout.
Arsenal were torn apart by a severely depleted Chelsea XI, conceding three times in 32 first-half minutes to all but end their chances of WSL glory this season. It was a performance that highlighted most, if not all, of Arsenal’s frailties, underpinned by weak defensive shape, giant gaps in midfield and poor game management.
Chelsea moved back to the top of the Women’s Super League with an edgy 2-0 win over West Ham, who had an equaliser wrongly chalked off for offside.
Aggie Beever-Jones took just two minutes to score as Chelsea responded to Manchester City’s win over Manchester United on Saturday to go top on goal difference.