Man City move 12 points ahead of Chelsea in WSL with dominant win over Bompastor’s Blues | OneFootball

Manchester City Women delivered a statement performance at the Etihad Stadium, dismantling the defending champions Chelsea 5-1.

The victory, powered by a clinical Kerolin Nicoli hat-trick and strikes from Khadija Shaw and Vivianne Miedema, moves City 12 points clear of their title rivals Chelsea at the top of the table. They are also 11 ahead of their closes rivals, Manchester United.

Andree Jeglertz’s side exploited every defensive lapse from a Chelsea team that appeared uncharacteristically passive.

The atmosphere reached a fever pitch early on when Chelsea failed to deal with a Kerstin Casparij corner. The ball fell to Kerolin at the edge of the box, who sent a half-volley into the bottom corner with a slight nick off Ellie Carpenter.

The Brazilian winger has now remarkably scored or assisted in each of her last six WSL appearances.

Chelsea briefly thought they had found a route back into the contest when Lauren James delivered a signature cross to find Wieke Kaptein, but the Dutch midfielder had timed her run a fraction too early and the equaliser was chalked off for offside.

City immediately punished the visitors, doubling their lead through Shaw. After Yui Hasegawa dispossessed Kaptein in a dangerous area, Miedema threaded a pass to Shaw, who outmuscled Naomi Girma before expertly chipping Hannah Hampton for her 14th goal of the season.

The second half became the Kerolin show as Chelsea’s desperate attempts to gamble left them exposed to City’s lightning quick transitions.

For her second goal, Kerolin collected a through ball from Lauren Hemp inside her own half and sprinted nearly fifty yards, holding off her chasers before dinking the ball over the keeper. Moments later, she completed her first hat-trick for the club, side-footing home another precise Hemp delivery after Ellie Carpenter was caught out of position.

Though Alyssa Thompson pulled one back for the Blues with a thunderous strike that cut across Sam Coffey and beat Ayaka Yamashita, it served only as a minor consolation.

City remained relentless, and after Hampton made a brilliant save to momentarily deny a fifth, the resulting corner saw Miedema rise at the near post to glance a header into the far stick. It was a fitting end to a dominant display, leaving the defending champions stunned and City firmly in control of their own destiny.