After six consecutive years on the throne, Chelsea\u2019s reign as English women\u2019s football\u2019s top team is over. It was a chastening afternoon for Sonia Bompastor\u2019s side at the Etihad Stadium where Manchester City dismantled the champions to open up a surely unassailable lead at the top of the Women\u2019s Super League.<\/p>\n
In an emphatic victory symbolic of the ongoing changing of the guard, Kerolin scored a hat-trick as the runaway leaders won 5-1 and their jubilant fans were taunting Chelsea with chants of \u201ceasy, easy, easy\u201d before the end. City are coasting towards clinching their first title since 2016 and this latest victory almost left their head coach lost for words.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the circle afterwards, that was the first time I said to the players \u2018actually I don\u2019t know what to say\u2019, because I am [so] proud of the performance,\u201d said Andr\u00e9e Jeglertz, who felt his team were handling the pressure \u201cmarvellously\u201d, adding: \u201cA lot of people were expecting us to perform and they managed it. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeglertz\u2019s supremely confident-looking side now have a 12-point advantage over Chelsea, who slipped to third, and an 11-point lead over second-placed Manchester United, with eight games remaining. Even with trips to the Emirates Stadium and Old Trafford to come, none of City\u2019s rivals will realistically harbour any hope of catching them.<\/p>\n
Kerolin opens the scoring for Manchester City in their emphatic victory. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n
The star of the show was Brazil\u2019s Kerolin, who opened the scoring with a deflected strike after Chelsea failed to clear a set piece. What followed was an impressive spell of Chelsea pressure but, when the visitors failed to score while they were on top, City punished them when Khadija Shaw ran on to Vivianne Miedema\u2019s through ball, outmuscled Naomi Girma and finished past Hannah Hampton to make it 2-0 and put Jeglertz\u2019s team in full control.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s day worsened after half-time when they conceded possession in Manchester City\u2019s half and found themselves exposed at the back. Kerolin raced away with such speed that no one could catch her, and she chipped Hampton in cool style.<\/p>\n
After slotting in another from Lauren Hemp\u2019s pass, Kerolin was withdrawn to a standing ovation, on a day where her skill and lethal acceleration proved unstoppable. Their captain, Millie Bright, summoned her teammates into a huddle at 4-0 for a short, crisis team talk, and they did get a goal back through Alyssa Thompson\u2019s classy finish. But Miedema was soon heading in from a corner to restore the four-goal cushion as the visitors\u2019 poor defending continued and their body language stooped to new, low levels.<\/p>\n