A lightning start from Lauren James helped Chelsea on their way to a 5-2 victory against Leicester in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
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Chelsea picked up another WSL winJames continues her excellent formBlues unbeaten at the top of the tableGettyTELL ME MORE
The Blues were 2-0 up within five minutes thanks to some stellar work from James. The Chelsea star capitalised on a mistake from Leicester and ran on to finish low into the net after two minutes. Almost immediately afterwards, Fran Kirby knocked the ball into James' path and she raced on and found the net thanks to it bouncing off of defender Courtney Nevin.
Leicester managed to pull a goal back after 26 minutes when Lena Petermann's pass found Jutta Rantala in space and she smashed it into the net. Chelsea restored their two-goal lead in the 40th minute, however, when Sam Kerr ran in to meet Niamh Charles' low cross and knock it in.
The game did not die down there, though, as Ann-Katrin Berger pulled off a strong save to deny a Leicester free-kick but could not stop the visitors from scoring on the rebound. Chelsea managed once again to give themselves a comfortable lead with a lovely chip from James that went over Janina Leitzig and into the net before Agnes Beever-Jones headed in a fifth late on.
AdvertisementGettyTHE MVP
It was yet another excellent performance from James, who scored a hat-trick in last week's demolition of Liverpool. Thanks to the 22-year-old, Chelsea were off to an awesome start and essentially had the three points sealed after five minutes. She now has five WSL goals to her name after just seven appearances.
GettyTHE BIG LOSER
Leicester midfielder Sam Tierney will feel she put a severe dent in her team's chances of getting a positive result against the reigning WSL champions. It was her awful pass that sent the ball into the path of James and gave her the golden chance to open the scoring early on. Leicester managed to put the home team under pressure later in the half and Tierney got their second goal, but there was no coming back against Emma Hayes' relentless side.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Chelsea have a much tougher test coming up next as they face Arsenal in a London derby on December 10. The Gunners are second in the WSL and three points behind Emma Hayes' team, who remain unbeaten after eight matches.