Chelsea secured a statement 5-0 victory against struggling West Ham to breathe life back into their Women’s Super League title defence. Sandy Baltimore scored twice and Lauren James and Alyssa Thompson once each in an impressive demolition of their London rivals.
Rita Guarino endured a nightmare start to her West Ham tenure as her team conceded four first-half goals to put them firmly on the back foot in an already difficult encounter. A combination of defensive errors and careless work in possession contributed and left West Ham’s new head coach with problems to solve as the Hammers remain locked in a battle with Liverpool at the bottom.
“It was a tough game against a great opponent who are one of the best teams in Europe,” Guarino said. “We can learn many things – how to be more organised, how to try to not make some easy mistakes. I know the quality of my players. I think that they can show better quality. It is about the details of the games.
“It’s not about concentration but tactical mistakes and misunderstanding. If you concede time and space to an opponent like Chelsea, they will have the chance to score.”
Guarino arrived in east London last month, after the dismissal of Rehanne Skinner with West Ham sitting second bottom with just one win. Guarino is well respected in her native Italy, particularly after her success at Juventus, and needs to be given the opportunity to instil her ideas. After this first outing, however, it is clear that the 54-year-old has her work cut out to turn fortunes around.
The performance at Kingsmeadow, more than the result, will surely be the concern for Guarino. Expectations of coming away from this match with a win would have been low – games such as this will not be the ones where the Hammers hope to pick up points – but the evident lack of confidence will have caused consternation.
Guarino made three changes from their last outing against Manchester City, with Katrina Gorry, Eva Nyström and Inès Belloumou returning while the France international Estelle Cascarino was on the bench following confirmation of her loan move from Juventus.
Chelsea arrived on the back of warm-weather training in Portugal and looked refreshed and raring to go. Hannah Hampton was named on the teamsheet for the first time since sustaining a quad injury in November, while James made just her third league start of the season.
Goals from Kerolin and Vivianne Miedema cemented Manchester City’s place at the top of the Women’s Super League table with a 2-0 victory over Everton. The Brazil international Kerolin opened the scoring with a deflected 26th-minute effort at the Joie Stadium before her Netherlands counterpart Miedema made sure with a well-taken second as the hosts dominated.
Ashleigh Neville’s own goal handed her former club Tottenham a hard-fought 1-0 win over Leicester. The unfortunate defender, who only joined City last week after a decade at Spurs, turned Eveliina Summanen’s 40th-minute corner into her own net to settle a tight affair and ease her side level on points with third-placed Arsenal.
Second-half goals from Rachel Daly and Kirsty Hanson helped Aston Villa come from behind to beat Brighton 2-1. Fuka Tsunoda put the Seagulls ahead at Villa Park, but the hosts responded after the break with two goals inside a minute as Daly and Hanson struck in quick succession to snatch a fourth league win of the season.
Liverpool are a point adrift of West Ham at the foot of the table and still without a win after a drab 0-0 draw with London City Lionesses. Neither side mustered a shot on target at St Helens Stadium in Eder Maestre’s first game in charge of the Lionesses. PA Media
Nothing less than a win would do for Sonia Bompastor’s team as they attempt to avoid dropping further behind Manchester City, who maintained their six-point lead by defeating Everton 2-0. Chelsea certainly emerged with clear intent to do just that and got their rewards after less than a minute. After James sent Ellie Carpenter away on the overlap, the Australian’s low delivery bypassed the West Ham goalkeeper, Kinga Szemik, at the near post and was turned inadvertently home by the unfortunate Yu Endo.
Pressure continued to mount on the visitors. On the half-hour, the hosts doubled their lead after another defensive error. When the ball came back to Szemik in her own box, the Chelsea attack applied the press, causing the goalkeeper to send her clearance straight into the onrushing James, with the ball rebounding into the net.
Chelsea’s third followed when Carpenter beat Verena Hanshaw to the ball in the box. A smart layoff to Johanna Rytting Kaneryd enabled the Swedish international to find Thompson at the far post. On the stroke of half-time, they added another when Baltimore sent a superb finish into the top corner.
A bizarre moment before the restart prevented West Ham from giving Cascarino her debut, when she was unable to remove an earring. It summed up the visitors’ afternoon and meant Belloumou had to make a quick return from the dressing room to make up the numbers.
Chelsea added a fifth when Viviane Asseyi was adjudged to have handled the ball. Baltimore stepped up to dispatch the penalty with aplomb, rounding off a fine start to 2026.
“It was really important to have the right mindset coming into the second half of the season,” Bompastor said. “We know we have 10 games left. The only thing we can control is to make sure we put the best performance into every game to make sure we get the three points. We will fight until the end and see what happens.”
