Chelsea Women 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Women: Blues move up to second in WSL
- Published
WSL highlights: Dominant Chelsea beat Brighton 3-1
Chelsea put their League Cup final defeat behind them to beat Brighton and move one point behind Women's Super League leaders Manchester United.
Blues boss Emma Hayes got the response she demanded as Chelsea moved up to second in the table before Sunday's home game against United.
Managerless Brighton fell behind to Guro Reiten's penalty before Jess Carter doubled the hosts' lead.
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd added a third before Danielle Carter's consolation.
The Blues dominated despite making seven changes to the side who were beaten by Arsenal at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Sweden winger Kaneryd had an early attempt cleared off the line when the game was goalless, Jelena Cankovic clipped the bar and Sam Kerr had an attempt ruled out for offside.
Brighton, who announced manager Jens Scheuer's departure on Monday by mutual consent after only two months in charge, hit the bar after half-time through Elisabeth Terland.
They remain 11th in the table on eight points, two more than bottom club Leicester City.
Chelsea show character to bounce back
Chelsea were hurting after missing out on a first major trophy of the season, with Hayes admitting her stars did not match Arsenal's desire at the weekend.
But they remain very much in the hunt for a fourth successive WSL title with Sunday's game against Manchester United - which is live on BBC Two at 12:30 GMT - a fixture of huge significance at the top.
Chelsea, who have a game in hand on the leaders, have won 11 times in an unbeaten 12-match league run.
This result - and response - was just what Hayes wanted before a crucial three weeks which also includes a Champions League quarter-final against holders Lyon and an FA Cup quarter-final at Reading.
The only surprise was that Kerr - one of four survivors from the starting XI against Arsenal - failed to find the net after scoring 11 times in her previous six games.
Kerr looked set to make it 3-0 but was denied by an excellent save by Australia team-mate Lydia Williams from eight yards, before setting up Kaneryd to wrap up a comfortable win.
Chelsea have scored 73 goals in 24 games in all competitions this season
Positives in defeat for Brighton
There were positives in defeat for Amy Merricks, who is in her second spell as Brighton's interim boss this season.
At 2-0 down, the Seagulls enjoyed their best spell of the match and Terland struck the bar with an ambitious attempt from an angle.
Even after falling 3-0 behind, the visitors showed fight as substitute Carter scored four minutes after coming on to deny Chelsea a clean sheet.
It remains to be seen how long Merricks stays in charge on this occasion, after taking four points from three WSL games following Hope Powell's departure before Scheuer was appointed.
But Brighton need to tighten up defensively as they battle to avoid relegation. They have conceded 54 goals in 16 games since registering their last shutout in the WSL in March 2022.
'Goal difference is going to matter' - reaction
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes: "It was a great response. The team wanted to focus on its defending and it was something Millie [Bright] spoke about before the game.
"This is an amazing group of women. They know what it takes and what it needs [to react after the Arsenal defeat] and I thought they responded in the way that we would all want them to.
"The players are upset about conceding a sloppy goal so late and goal difference is going to matter.
"I've taken Millie off and given other players an opportunity. If you disrupt the backline you have to expect that. But for me the priority was winning the game and we still have to play a third game this week. It's an important game and we need to have players fresh for Sunday."
Brighton interim boss Amy Merricks: "I'm really proud of the players for the way they applied themselves. We can build on that second-half performance. I was really impressed with the way the competed because it has been a whirlwind 48 hours.
"Our full attention turns to Manchester City on Sunday. It's a huge game and opportunity for us."