Chelsea continued their flawless start to the 2025/26 campaign with a convincing 4-0 victory over West Ham United.
The Blues were in need of a dominant display from the frontline, and they certainly got it in this one as Aggie Beever-Jones yet again opened the scoring for the Blues.
Goals from Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Erin Cuthbert put Chelsea up by three just fifteen minutes into proceedings. It would not get any better for the hosts, who went a player down as Inès Belloumou was shown red for pulling the hair of Alyssa Thompson.
A fourth goal from Wieke Kaptein capped off a fantastic performance from Sonia Bompastor's side, who looked much more like the team they did last season.
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Story of the match
Sonia Bompastor made three changes from the 1-0 victory over Leicester City last weekend as Ellie Carpenter, Sandy Baltimore and Catarina Macario all dropped to the bench. Alyssa Thompson was handed her first start as a Chelsea player, having come off the bench in her previous two appearances. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Oriane Jean-Francois also came into the starting eleven.
Amber Tysiak was the only name to retain her place in the West Ham backline from midweek's 5-1 victory over Charlton Athletic. Inès Belloumou, who also featured against Charlton, was named as a wing-back for this encounter. Ffion Morgan also remained in the lineup, whilst the rest who started in the week were replaced by the usual first-teamers.
West Ham United came out of the blocks fast, on the hunt for a goal that would give them a very early lead. They came extremely close to this in the third minute through Viviane Asseyi. The winger stretched to get on the end of a cross from Katrina Gorry, but could not make enough contact to guide her effort into the back of the net.
It would not take long for Chelsea to respond to this with an attempt of their own. Erin Cuthbert was allowed acres of space on the edge of the box for Chelsea, firing a shot that forced an early save out of Kinga Szemik.
The Hammers were insistent on attempting to play out from the back against their opponents, but were struggling to find a way out at times as the press from Chelsea was a relentless one.
They eventually managed to, as a good move forward once again for the hosts, almost paid off. The ball across to Asseyi was another good one, but the 31-year-old could not capitalise on it, and Chelsea got away with it.
The Blues had their first good chance of the game via a free kick conceded by Shelina Zadorsky, which consequently put her on a booking 7 minutes in. But that would not be the biggest concern, as Aggie Beever-Jones converted the free-kick wonderfully to make it four goals in four.
Going a goal down did not deter the attackers of West Ham, who went the closest they had all game as Gorry struck the post with a shot that appeared to have Hannah Hampton beaten.
But just moments after that display of resistance from The Hammers, the hosts' backline was split open too easily to give Chelsea a two-goal lead just 12 minutes into proceedings. Wieke Kaptein did well on the left wing to ease past two West Ham players before delivering a simple but effective ball across to Kaneryd, who was left with a simple finish.
The Blues were running away with this one, tightening their grip on this one even more just two minutes after Kaptein's goal as Erin Cuthbert struck once again from the edge of the box, this time finding the back of the net.
It was poor defending from West Ham, who kept backing away from Cuthbert, allowing the Scot so much time to pull the trigger and consequently make it 3-0 to Chelsea.
West Ham reduced to ten
Things went from bad to worse for West Ham as they were soon a player down, as Inès Belloumou was shown a straight red card. The Algerian appeared to pull the hair of Alyssa Thompson, which was more than enough to see her dismissed.
If there was any positive of the first half for Rehanne Skinner, it was that her side had responded relatively well to going a player down. Nevertheless, there were seemingly set to be some stern words at the break from the head coach as the contest was all but over for her side after a quarter of an hour in this one.
It would have taken a miracle for West Ham to get any sort of result from this match, but fans would have at least been hoping for a more settled half, especially from the backline, who were all over the place at times in the first half.
A brief response from the hosts
In fairness to the hosts, they mounted a response, enjoying a ten-minute period, where they had all the chances, even calling Hannah Hampton into action - a shimmer of positivity for The Irons in an otherwise dull encounter.
Ffion Morgan had a great chance on the break to get one back for her side, but could not beat Chelsea's shot stopper. A few moments later, Chelsea had the ball in the back of the net to add a fourth to their tally.
Substitute Catarina Macario did superbly to turn and fire the ball across the goal towards Kaptein, who guided the ball in to cap off an excellent display from the visitors.
Another thoroughly miserable performance for West Ham will continue to build the pressure on Rehanne Skinner. Her side never recovered from Beever-Jones' free kick and got punished for it in emphatic fashion by The Blues.
Player of the Match - Wieke Kaptein:
What a superb performance it was from Kaptein, who could have had more than one goal against West Ham, having rattled a shot against the post earlier in the first half.
The Dutch international was not only a threat in front of goal, but was also a fantastic source of creation for the Blues, creating the most chances of any player on the pitch.
She got her reward for this, grabbing the assist for Kaneryd's goal. Kaptein made it look so easy on the left wing against the West Ham defenders before delivering that killer ball.
Her goal in the second half was simply a matter of right place at the right time, but it was thoroughly deserved in this one.
