It's advantage Manchester City in the title race after Gemma Bonner's late winner gave the Reds a famous win on Wednesday night
In a team meeting earlier this season, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes showed her players a presentation with two slides – one with the four trophies they could win this season and a blank one, reminding them that they could end the campaign with nothing. A shocking, thrilling 4-3 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday means that, in Hayes' final season in charge of the club, their destiny could well be the latter.
Five days on from their Women's Champions League semi-final exit, the Blues made a good start on their return to Women's Super League action through Aggie Beever-Jones' early goal, but Liverpool were making life difficult and had chances to level the scores before the break. It felt like half-time came at a good time for Chelsea then, but the Reds did brilliantly to pick up where they left off, and two fantastic headers from Sophie Roman Haug and Gemma Bonner helped them turn the game around with less than 25 minutes to play.
Chaos ensued from there. Chelsea knew that anything other than a win would put the WSL title in Manchester City's hands and they rallied to get back into it – the problem was that Liverpool were not going to give up, either.
Three goals in three minutes meant the scores were level at 3-3 as the clock ticked into stoppage-time, and it was there that Bonner won it with a late, great header from yet another set-piece. Hayes said her team had "a small chance" of winning the title ahead of this game. It is only smaller now.
GOAL rates Chelsea's players from Prenton Park…
Getty ImagesGoalkeeper & Defence
Hannah Hampton (6/10):
Alert to plenty that Liverpool threw at her but had no chance with any of the goals.
Ashley Lawrence (6/10):
Made a couple of crucial, potentially goal-saving interventions in her own box in the first half. Off before the hour.
Millie Bright (4/10):
Showed rust on her first start in six months. Enderby's pace caused her real problems.
Jess Carter (5/10):
Mopped up a couple of times for Bright as the skipper found her feet again, but also made a few uncharacteristic errors of her own.
Niamh Charles (5/10):
Not her best game. A fair few misplaced passes and sloppy touches.
AdvertisementGettyMidfield
Erin Cuthbert (6/10):
Liverpool's press made it hard for her to help Chelsea assume full control the game. Improved in the second half.
Sjoeke Nusken (4/10):
Battled hard in the middle, winning plenty of tackles, but was a bit too loose in possession.
Fran Kirby (4/10):
Struggled to get involved in the game.
Getty ImagesAttack
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (4/10):
Did her defensive duties well but was hardly involved on the attack.
Catarina Macario (6/10):
Had it tough under the watchful eyes of Clark and Bonner, but held her own to cause problems, got on the scoresheet and delivered great set-pieces, including the corner for the opener.
Aggie Beever-Jones (7/10):
Her two goals were representative of the fact that she was so often Chelsea's brightest attacking spark.
Getty ImagesSubs & Manager
Maika Hamano (6/10):
Had more than half an hour to make a difference and was one of Chelsea's liveliest subs.
Sophie Ingle (5/10):
Came on alongside Hamano and did well to help Chelsea get back into the game, but had no idea where Bonner was for the winning goal.
Eve Perisset (5/10):
Good on the ball but couldn't stop the frantic defending.
Nathalie Bjorn (5/10):
Didn't improve Chelsea's set-piece defending.
Guro Reiten (5/10):
Added energy and final product but it wasn't enough.
Emma Hayes (4/10):
Injuries limited her and it was understandable that she gave Bright a start here, but Enderby regularly capitalised on her rustiness. Substitutes had an impact, but the necessary changes that were made at the back meant defending remained chaotic. Had to change something about the way her team was defending set-pieces but didn't – and it was costly.
