Chelsea 5-0 Birmingham City: Sam Kerr bags hat-trick in Birmingham thrashing
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Chelsea 5-0 Birmingham: Kirby scores 100th goal for Chelsea to thrash Birmingham
Chelsea thrashed Birmingham City as Sam Kerr's hat-trick added to the wounds of their visitors who sacked manager Scott Booth earlier this week.
Birmingham, who remain without a win and sit just one point above bottom side Leicester City, conceded four goals in a rampant first half.
Kerr netted three times in 26 minutes, pouncing on several rebounds, while Fran Kirby also scored in each half.
Chelsea are just one point below Women's Super League leaders Arsenal.
It has been a week of turmoil for Birmingham City, who followed up their league defeat to rivals Aston Villa with a 4-0 loss at home to West Ham in the cup.
That led to the sacking of Booth, amid further reports of complaints around facilities and standards for the women's team.
Under the guidance of assistant coach Tony Elliott at Kingsmeadow they looked short of confidence and were outclassed by a ruthless Chelsea side.
Kirby struck the first blow in under four minutes with an audacious lob and, within half an hour, Birmingham were 3-0 down thanks to a double from Kerr.
The Australian, who linked up effectively with Jessie Fleming on several occasions, added her third on the stroke of half-time and though Birmingham improved after the break, Kirby extended Chelsea's lead later on.
Chelsea could have scored more too - Bethany England dragged a shot wide when through one-on-one and Lauren James and Kerr came close.
Birmingham's schedule does not get any easier as they take on Manchester City on 12 December in their next WSL match, but have appointed Darren Carter as interim head coach.
Chelsea, meanwhile, will look to maintain their title challenge at Reading on December 11, following the FA Cup final against Arsenal and a Champions League group game with Juventus.