Man City thrash Chelsea to go 11 points clear at the top of the WSL | OneFootball

Manchester City will be counting down the games before they are crowned WSL champions after thrashing challengers Chelsea 5-1 with Kerolin scoring a hat-rick.

Sonia Bompastor's defending champions went into this game in third place knowing that a win was needed to ensure that they still had a slim chance of defending their crown.

However just 13 minutes in it was 1-0 to City. The visitors failed to clear a corner properly with the ball bouncing to Kerolin whose shot went through some bodies and deflected past Hannah Hampton.

Chelsea weren't happy about City's second goal, feeling like Khadija Shaw had fouled Naomi Girma before the in-form striker slotted the ball in with 36 minutes gone in the game.

It was going to take something for the London side to get back into but instead City were relentless and added to their tally.

The third goal came through a counter-attack following a Chelsea corner with Lauren Hemp setting the Brazilian away who couldn't be stopped before making it 3-0.

Kerolin's hat-trick was completed in the 54th minute. Vivianne Miedema did well to win the ball back for City with Hemp crossing the ball in for the Brazilian to convert from close range.

The visitors did score a consolation goal in the 68th minute with perhaps the best goal of the afternoon as Alyssa Thompson did well to find space on the edge of the area and fire past Ayaka Yamashita.

The four-goal cushion was restored in the 73rd minute. Kerstin Casparij sent in a corner that Miedema managed to flick in at the near post to make it 5-1.

While many may have suspected City would be too good for Chelsea, not many would have predicted a 5-1 win – the biggest defeat the Blues have suffered since losing 5-0 to Arsenal back in October 2018, Miedema was on target that day as well.

City are now 11 points clear at the top of the table, ahead of second-place Manchester United, with just eight games remaining. Chelsea now need to dust themselves off after this and worry about also about Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur fighting for the Champions League places.