Adversity is the making of champions. It is relatively easy to breeze through the good times but when the going gets tough and the chips are down, how teams and athletes react is what separates them from the rest.
Emma Hayes’s injury-hit Chelsea’s side exemplified this resilience perfectly as they decimated Arsenal in front of a raucous home crowd at Stamford Bridge. It was a display that oozed every ounce of the experience they have built up over their seasons of dominance, pulling on all their knowhow to dismantle a full-strength opposition who had blown them away back in December.
Yes, Chelsea have resources at their disposal which are larger than many other clubs in the WSL but even the deepest squad would struggle with the injuries they’ve suffered of late. Centre-forward options are low after Sam Kerr and Mia Fishel were ruled out for the long term when they suffered anterior cruciate ligament injuries within weeks of each other. The club’s record signing, Mayra Ramírez, pulled up in the Continental Cup semi-final against Manchester City and has not been seen since, while Catarina Macario is making a slow return from her own ACL injury. This is not to mention the lack of defensive cover with Millie Bright still out and Nathalie Björn forced off with a knock in the previous game.
It is a problem that required Hayes to shuffle the pack once again, illustrating her creativity in putting the pieces of her Chelsea puzzle back together. It is not the first time she has had to do it in her lengthy tenure at the club, and it will not be the last.
An eyebrow or two were certainly raised when the Germany international Sjoeke Nüsken set up alongside Lauren James as a centre-forward as Chelsea took to the field against a resurgent Arsenal. Traditionally seen in midfield and occasionally at right-back, Nüsken had appeared as a commanding centre-back in the Blues’ last two games. Her goalscoring qualities have been clear, however, when she has played further forward this season and Hayes saw it as the answer to her attacking problems on this occasion.
Nüsken scored her seventh and eighth goals of the season, displaying an impressive awareness of space and linking up well with those around her. Her first goal – Chelsea’s second of the night – saw her read Erin Cuthbert’s threaded shot to divert it home past the statuesque Manuela Zinsberger in the Arsenal goal. Her second had more than a little bit of fortune attached to it, inadvertently deflecting Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s effort home. You make your own luck, however, and it was a moment that epitomised how everything fell into place for Chelsea and Hayes under the lights at Stamford Bridge.
Yet Nüsken was just part of the Chelsea machine that kicked into gear against their London rivals from the first whistle and romped their way to victory. Their manager had issued a rallying cry before the match, repeating time and time again about the expectations she places on her players. “Do I expect my team to show up here tomorrow?” she said. “They better! If not, they have themselves to answer to the following day, because that’s the standards they live up to. My job is just to poke the bear a little bit.”
Poke the bear she certainly did. Chelsea outmuscled Arsenal in every single department, first to every single ball, stronger in every duel and more composed in every area of the field. Whether it was the commanding presence of Hannah Hampton between the sticks, the intensity of Cuthbert and Melanie Leupolz in midfield or the acceleration of Rytting Kaneryd who had Arsenal’s Steph Catley’s number from the start.
That is not to mention Lauren James. Countless words have been written about the 22-year-old forward who just seems to reach new heights with every game she plays. Stamford Bridge is certainly her stage, the platform where she has performed the best this season, demonstrating exactly how she can pull opposition apart almost on her own.
She opened the scoring with her eighth goal in four games at the Bridge this season, her 13th overall in the league. It was a swashbuckling illustration of pure technique and power as she worked the space for the shot that had enough force on it to get through, despite Zinsberger getting two gloves to it. James tortured the Arsenal players all game as she eased past them on multiple occasions, eventually walking off to a deserved standing ovation in the 83rd minute.
It was a comfortable victory that saw Chelsea open up a three-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table, ahead of their title rivals facing Brighton on Sunday. As Hayes has referenced often, the business end of the season is what her side know how to do. They may yet be challenged to the very end this time around but the feeling of relentlessness about this Chelsea team is never far away as they chase down yet another WSL title.
