After the Conti Cup final loss against Arsenal the Blues got back on track with a 3-1 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion. Guro Reiten, Jess Carter, and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd put their names on the scoresheet for Chelsea while Danielle Carter added one for the Seagulls.
As expected with the high amount of games for Emma Hayes's side, the manager started with heavy rotations in the starting lineup. This led to the chance for some of the second-row players to prove their value.
Brighton remains in 11th place in the table only two points ahead of Leicester City. After the departure of manager Jens Scheuer, interim coach Amy Merricks will have to work hard to keep her team in England's first division.
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Chelsea is back to winning ways
From the start of the game, the Blues took the lead accumulating a high percentage of ball possession. In the first half, they rarely let Brighton step foot into their half. Instead, they kept looking for gaps in the guest's defence.
Not even twelve minutes into the game, the Blues scored their first goal through a Guro Reiten penalty bringing back smiles onto the faces of her teammates.
Emma Hayes's side looked fresh again and played a good first half pressing the opponent all the time.
While the match was as good as decided after the third goal, Chelsea took things too easy in some situations, especially in the second half, and allowed Brighton more spaces which subsequently led to the conceded goal.
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The chance for the Blues' second row
Because of resting seven players who were in the starting lineup on Sunday Chelsea's rotation players got a lot of game time to prove their worth.
Especially Jess Carter stood out who - for most parts of the game - had the hardest opponent in the Seagull's Katie Robinson. The left-back defended well and made some dangerous advances deep into the Brighton defence line, often changing positions with Guro Reiten.
She rewarded herself with a goal after a corner which should give her more confidence going forward.
Melanie Leupolz was in the starting lineup for the first time since her pregnancy. She directly took charge of Chelsea's centre-midfield and showed great physicality winning a lot of duels.
Jelena Cankovic and Johanna Rytten Kaneryd brought a lot of creative elements to the game. While Cankovic often succeeded in outplaying her opponents, Kaneryd finally managed to score her fest goal for the Blues.
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Brighton desperately needs points
The Seagulls were not dangerous at all in the first half. The only three attacks came over the right side with Katie Robinson and Emma Kullberg leading their team.
Lee Geum-min, who started the game after coming on as a sub and scoring two goals in the FA Cup against Coventry United, could not show her instinct in front of the posts today due to the lack of chances.
Those chances came more often in the second half when Chelsea dropped back a little and allowed Brighton more spaces.
This then led to punishment as Danielle Carter used the confusion in the Chelsea box to score the only goal of the evening for the Seagulls.
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Interim manager Amy Merricks with a difficult task
The departure from manager Jens Scheuer seemed uncommon as he had only been coaching the team since January. However, while Brighton got to the next round of the FA Cup under his guidance, they only picked up one point in three WSL games.
Therefore Amy Merricks had to give her second attempt as interim manager a go. Obviously, her first game being against Chelsea did not make the situation easier.
She started Lee Geum-min who brought more physicality to the midfield and always demanded the ball, however, struggled to put it past the Blues' defenders.
Furthermore, Merricks switched Robinson halfway into the game to the right side as opponent Carter dealt well with her using the free spaces more consistently.
No matter the opponent in the upcoming games, Brighton need points to avoid relegation.