Erin Cuthbert on what Chelsea changed in their thumping win over West Ham | OneFootball

Guro Reiten of Chelsea celebrates with team-mates Maika Hamano and Erin Cuthbert last season (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

Erin Cuthbert starred as Chelsea handed out a 4-0 thrashing to London neighbours West Ham United on Sunday in the Women’s Super League.

And after the match, she explained that the Blues had changed a few things about the way they approached the game.

The tweaks paid off, with Sonia Bompastor’s side two points ahead of Manchester United at the top of the WSL table.

“We wanted to create a little bit of a gap up at the top, to give us a bit of a buffer,” Cuthbert said to the club website.

“We’ve got a bit of an unbeaten streak going at the moment. Everybody wants to be the team that beats that, and I think we have to start hard and fast in games, which we hadn’t been doing.

“We wanted a bit of a different approach today. We wanted more counter-pressures and to win the ball back in higher areas, and win our duels a little bit more. I think that helped us create a lot of chances that maybe we’ve not been creating in the past couple of weeks.

“It was a good game overall. We implemented a lot of stuff that we’ve been doing in training.”

Erin Cuthbert: The squad depth is brilliant

Chelsea had four different goalscorers on Sunday – Aggie Beever-Jones, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Wieke Kaptein as well as Cuthbert herself.

And she said that squad depth was a very good sign as Chelsea look to defend their domestic treble as well as staking a claim to the UEFA Women’s Champions League, which continues to elude them.

“Everyone’s fighting for their shirt, and there’s fierce competition in training every week. We love each other like family, but compete like nobody’s business! You’ve got no idea how fierce that competition is, week in, week out. That creates healthy competition and good performances like we saw on the pitch today.

“The squad depth is brilliant, but it’s absolutely needed and key. With only one game a week, it’s maybe difficult for players to keep their heads in the game, but they’ve got to be ready and know their moment is coming. Our October and November is packed with games, so everybody is going to get their chance.”

Chelsea’s next match in the WSL is on Friday, 3rd October, when they travel to Leigh to face Manchester United.

And then they begin their Champions League campaign when they visit FC Twente on Wednesday, 8th October.