Guro Reiten scored four as Chelsea thrashed Bristol City to keep their Women's Super League title hopes alive.

In Emma Hayes' last home game in charge, Reiten's sixth-minute penalty put the Blues in front and Sjoeke Nusken bundled the ball in from close range to double the lead.

A sweeping team move was finished off by Aggie Beever-Jones early in the second half and a Reiten's fierce 20-yard strike made sure of the points soon after.

But with the possibility that the league could be decided by goal difference after Manchester City's loss to Arsenal, Chelsea kept pushing for more goals.

Substitute Catarina Macario played in Reiten to complete her hat-trick and Niamh Charles converted from the American's free-kick to make it six.

Reiten thumped in her fourth with 13 minutes still remaining and when Beever-Jones headed in her second the Blues gained the edge over City in terms of goal difference, having started the day with a seven-goal deficit.

Chelsea are now three points behind City with a game in hand - away at Tottenham on 15 May - as the season heads towards a thrilling conclusion.

Four days after Hayes declared Chelsea's title bid was over, they are not only back in the race but are well placed to go into the final day of the season with an advantage.

They remain second for now, but if they beat Spurs they will go back to the summit with at least a two-goal edge over City on goal difference.

What had threatened to become a slightly sad ending to the Hayes era as a potential quadruple gave way to the prospect of a trophyless season, could yet culminate in glory.

The six-time WSL champions were going to need a helping hand following their 4-3 defeat at Liverpool, and City's late collapse at home to Arsenal gave them that.

But over the years, once the door is left ajar for Hayes' Chelsea, more often than not they charge straight through it.

This was no different as they flew at Lauren Smith's already-relegated Robins and swiftly moved into a two-goal lead.

Bristol City did provide a threat on the counter-attack and the more Chelsea poured it on in the second half, the more they will have been ruing Carrie Jones and Amalie Thestrup's missed opportunity before the break.

Having escaped those near-misses, Chelsea were relentless as the game went on with Reiten at the heart of everything and unerring in front of goal.

They might have had more, but eight was more than enough to revive the belief that they can wave goodbye to Hayes - and club legends Maren Mjelde and Fran Kirby - with a fifth-straight WSL title.