(Reuters) – Chelsea hit Leicester City for six in the first half en route to a 9-0 win on Sunday to go top of the Women’s Super League ahead of Arsenal, whose derby with Tottenham Hotspur was called off due to COVID-19 cases in the Spurs squad.
Winger Guro Reiten opened the scoring for Chelsea with a pinpoint free kick in the third minute and added another in first-half stoppage time. In between Beth England scored twice, with Sam Kerr and Aniek Nouwen also getting on the scoresheet.
Kerr got her second two minutes into the second half and Lauren James and Jessie Fleming scored late goals as the Blues took over top spot on 41 points, one ahead of the Gunners with both teams having five games left to play.
With the bottom side in the 12-team league automatically relegated, Leicester remain in 11th spot on 12 points, eight ahead of Birmingham City, who have a game in hand.
Elsewhere, Alessio Russo scored twice as third-placed Manchester United cruised to a 3-1 win over Everton in front of a crowd of 20,241 at Old Trafford, while West Ham slumped to a 2-0 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Manchester City’s home game against Birmingham was called off due to a number of positive COVID-19 tests in the visitors’ squad.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Toby Davis)
