West Ham Women 1 – 4 Chelsea Women

Chelsea put their off-pitch worries to one side as they comfortably won 4-1 at West Ham to move five points off WSL leaders Arsenal, with two games in hand.

The WSL champions, whose Russian owner Roman Abramovich has been placed under sanctions by the British government, were not distracted at their London rivals despite Blues boss Emma Hayes admitting before the match it had been a “difficult day”.

Chelsea scored twice in two minutes as Pernille Harder curled in their opener (21) before Niamh Charles’ deflected volley from distance (23) gave West Ham goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold no chance.

Harder scored her second in the 32nd minute after heading in So-Yun Ji’s delightfully clipped ball over the West Ham defence.

The home side pulled one back just three minutes into the second half through Dagny Brynjarsdottir, but any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Sam Kerr scored in the 63rd minute.

The victory sees Chelsea bounce back from Saturday’s League Cup final defeat against Manchester City to keep up their WSL title defence.

Meanwhile, West Ham remain eighth with their 10-game unbeaten home run now over.

Hayes on Abramovich sanctions: It’s been a difficult day

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes spoke to Sky Sports before the match about the sanctions placed on Abramovich:

“There’s no denying it’s a difficult day, but I think it’s important that we give it time. The club’s put a statement out and I understand the club are working with the government to dissect the interpretation of that. I think for all of the questions everybody has – players, fans and staff – we have to give the club time to work through that.

“I know you hear this from football managers because ultimately this is the only thing I can control, the next 90 minutes. I think it’s only right for the players to be able to switch off for 90 minutes in what has been a difficult day.

“I know from my end I’m a leader of this team and we’re going to have to navigate a difficult period and one where I don’t have all of the answers for it, but I certainly have an amazing dressing room, amazing fans and amazing employees at the club that deserve the very best from us this evening.

Asked about the ban on transfers and offering players new contracts, she said: “There’s so much we don’t know. There might be players that have already agreed to come into the club or players that are out of contract and we don’t know the likely impact of that.

“What I know is that the DCMS will work through that with the club and maybe the club will help educate the DCMS a little bit more about how clubs operate and what we need to operate, and we’re certainly co-operative with that. I expect that with every question that comes that every day we’ll get more answers and today is not the day where I have them. What I know is that I really am looking forward to switching off for 90 minutes.”

Questioned about how the situation affects the dressing room, Hayes responded: “We’re human beings. We’re aware. We’re in a really difficult time. There’s war going on in Ukraine, there’s a difficult day for the football club. Yes, we’ve lost a game [Saturday’s League Cup final defeat against Man City] but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not the end of the world.

“I know the players as human beings and I know them as performers and all I ask is that they do their very best, that they switch off for 90 minutes, focus on the job in hand and do the football club proud.”

What’s next?

West Ham travel to Birmingham in the Women’s Super League on Sunday; kick-off 2pm. Up next for Chelsea is a home match against Aston Villa on the same day; kick-off 1pm.