Chelsea beat Everton 2-1 at Kingsmeadow on Sunday through a late strike by Lauren James, to secure a hard-fought win for the Women’s Super League (WSL) leaders.
The two sides met in the same stadium where Chelsea secured a 4-1 win in the Women’s FA Cup a week previously.
Neither team managed to create big chances in a first half which remained goalless.
Everton took a surprise lead in the 51st minute with Toni Payne finding Kelly Gago whose far post effort put the Toffees in front.
Chelsea equalised on the 62nd minute as Johanna Rytting Kaneryd passed to Mayra Ramirez who turned and finished to level the match.
The two sides seemed to be heading for a draw with the Blues missing several opportunities, including substitute Aggie Beever-Jones hitting the post.
However, in the third minute of stoppage time, James scored brilliantly from 25 yards to win the game for Sonia Bompastor’s side and secure all three points for the WSL Champions.
“Really important to win games, even if it is difficult, even if it is late because the result is more important than the performance,” Bompastor said to The River after the match.
Chelsea are now unbeaten in 24 matches in all competitions and remain seven points clear of Manchester United.
They have 40 points after 13 wins from 14 league matches.
Meanwhile, Everton remain on 13 points and have fallen to ninth after Sunday’s WSL results.
After the international break, Chelsea travel to Brighton while Everton will play at Aston Villa, with both fixtures taking place on 2 March.
Marcus Liu
Camila Muiambo