Aston Villa 1-3 Chelsea: Blues overcome Villa as Kerr marks return with historic late strike | OneFootball

An exciting afternoon at Villa Park was completed with Chelsea winning 3-1 against Aston Villa.

It was a Women’s Super League game full of emotion, milestones and late drama. Chelsea’s champions showed their experience and depth to turn a close game in their favour.

As it happened

The game began with a significant change for Aston Villa: Ellie Roebuck made her debut for the team following the exclusion of Sabrina D’Angelo due to concussion protocols after last week’s match. Roebuck looked assured in goal and stabilised Villa.

Chelsea broke the game open against the run of play. In the 22nd minute, Aggie Beever-Jones climbed high to meet a cross and nodded home to put the visitors ahead. Villa responded positively and were rewarded when Ebony Salmon powered an equaliser in the 34th minute, turning in from close range after a bright team move had lifted the home crowd. The first half concluded 1-1.

The second half featured drama early on, with Niamh Charles twisting an ankle but playing on for a quarter of an hour before being replaced at half-time by Sandy Baltimore – a precautionary change which had them shuffling their left side. The Blues also handed WSL debutant Alyssa Thompson, the teenage American introduced to introduce pace and directness to the team.

Chelsea regained the advantage in the 55th minute through bad luck for Villa: a deflected effort becoming an own goal by Missy Bo Kearns leaving the visitors in a 2-1 position and with momentum on their side.

The afternoon was given an added significance a few moments later when Sam Kerr eventually returned to Chelsea from the injury list after 20 months. The arrival of the Australian gave new hope to the visitors, and she struck in thrilling circumstances, hooking home in the third minute of stoppage time. Her 100th goal in Blue secured a thrilling 3-1 victory. Kerr’s finish put the travelling fans on their feet and sealed a remarkable turnaround.

Tactically it was a close, hard-fought contest: Villa showed attacking ambition and weren’t overpowered. But Chelsea’s experience and timely interventions by subs and their forwards prevailed.

The Lineups

AVI: Roebuck; Deslandes, Patten, Wilms; Maritz, Baijings, Kearns, Grant; Daly, Hanson, Salmon.