Blues Hit Four Past Hammers! - West Ham United v Chelsea - Highlights - Barclays WSL 25-26

It is the same question at the start of every season. Can anyone stop the champions? So far, the answer to that question has been a resounding no. They are the unstoppable force. Let's look at the teams. We start with West Ham. The headline news is that Shakira Martinez, who scored two in the Chelsea draw last season at Kings Meadow, drops to the bench. A more defensive approach then for Rihanna Skinner with three new faces and three players who are all impressed in the 5-1 win against Charlton in the League Cup this week. And Matizyak, Enes Bulumu and Fionn Morgan all come in with Verena Hamshaw and Anna Tchiki on the bench. And for Chelsea, Alissa Thompson's in for her first start in the Barclays Women's Super League. There's a first league start of the campaign too for Oriane Jean-Francois. Johanna Rutinkainen also starts. And so it's another reshuffle for Sonia Bobcastor with Carpenter, Baltimore and Macario on a very strong Chelsea bench. Well, at the start of today's game, there will be a minute's applause in tribute to West Ham's former manager, Matt Beard. And we'll now march up to the other end. Gorrie delivers and it's only just beyond the reach of a say. Pretty decent ball in. Very good chance for West Ham to get on top here. It's a great opportunity. You can just see the space down that right hand side. And it's such a fantastic ball in behind the defensive line. At the other end, they have conceded a free kick. Aggie Beaver-Jones is the one who is fouled. And it's a yellow card for Zydowski. Yeah, Aggie Beaver-Jones just being a nuisance there. She does really, really well. Gets the body in between the ball and the defender. And she just draws a foul just using football intelligence. It will be Aggie Beaver-Jones. That is special. A really special goal from a really special talent. What a start to the season she's had. Four goals in four games now for Aggie Beaver-Jones. And Chelsea take just eight minutes to get up and running. It's an incredible finish. Expertly executed. The precision, the execution. She leaves Szajnik without a chance of making that save. Really crisp, composed finish by Aggie Beaver-Jones. Lovely collection of passes for Chelsea. Kaptain cuts it back. It's going to be two. Nobody watching the run of Ruttenkaderut. Aggie Beaver-Jones dovetailing ever so well. They have wonderful flexibility. And here comes another Chelsea flex. It's Cuthbert. Francie's getting her name on the score sheet. Does it superbly. Spectacular hit. Super suave. A fine hit. And Cuthbert has the beating of Szajnik. A save with the free kick here for West Ham. Headed away by Millie Bright. Chelsea trying to break clear. And Alyssa Thompson is saying that her hair was pulled in a spot of bother here. And she is in a massive spot of bother. Well, West Ham have been reduced to 10 players. Ines Bulumu sets off for a pull on the hair of Alyssa Thompson. And things go from bad to worse for West Ham United. They certainly do. Bulumu doesn't need to make that challenge there and tug on Thompson's hair. Of course, West Ham, they're under a lot of pressure at the moment and they need as many players on the pitch as they possibly can. Oh, it's a. Should be disappointed. Big header by Kiera Walsh and Rutten Conneret. Heading for goal, lays the ball off and Chelsea crack the post. He had a decision to make there, but it's, you know, for me, what's so impressive is that this Chelsea team are not taking the foot off the gas. They're still looking for more. They say with a chance to add another to her back catalogue. She's gone for it, and it certainly was a test for Hannah Hampton. And it's Millie Bright who gets there to deny Awakie the opportunity to score on the follow up. It's such an excellent strike, really tests Hannah Hampton's concentration here and the proficiency as well, just to execute and be ruthless in front of goal. Bompastor slips the pass. Macario is away. That's a really lovely touch. Big save, though, to deny her the opportunity to get on the score sheet. Position there, 1v1 situation, but Hannah Hampton, she does what she does best and she makes the save. She gets down and anticipates. And Macario at the other end, skips a challenge, delivers in and just like that, up to the other ends. Chelsea take advantage of a big miss here from West Ham, and they score goal number four. Fantastically well. She's done excellent since she's been on the pitch. Well, she does ever so well here to get beyond the challenge. Look at that wonderful feat. Has a look up, Cat Tine there waiting, pokes into the corner. In a flash, Chelsea work it from front to back. The best teams will punish your missed opportunities, and that is what Chelsea do. Chance for Kerr, it will drop instead for Macario, who nearly broke the frame of the goal there. Well, every time, Guru Wrighton with a very decent ball in, and it's another good chance for Chelsea. They are racking up, but they just can't find elusive goal number five. Yeah, I think Baltimore, the disappointed just recycles the ball into a really, really good area. Sam Kerr rises the highest and should be disappointed she didn't get that on target. Erin Cuthbert, congratulations, player of the match, an enjoyable day for you and your team. Yeah, I seem to like this stadium a lot. I don't know, I don't normally score, but this stadium is quite good luck for me. I think we wanted to start the game early with a bit of intention. You know, we've not been happy with our first couple of weeks start will be at maximum points, but at the same time, we don't settle and that's not enough for us. So I think we made a few tweaks. We wanted to be more aggressive. We want to be more front footed, put a little bit of pressure on them. Of course, the red card for West Ham totally changed the game. Felt like they actually then got deeper and more narrow and compact and made it actually a little bit difficult for us. But I think our 11 players, I thought we played really well. We moved the ball swiftly. We won the ball up really high in some great areas. Brilliant goal as well. Talk us through what was going through your mind as the West Ham defence was backing off. Yeah, I think just picked up a loose ball. Aggy's made a good run. I've looked to my right for Johanna and no seen her, so I had to keep driving. Aggy's made the run, took all the defenders away. And I think at that point, there's only one thing in my mind. So it's just hitting it. And, you know, sometimes they come off like that and sometimes you're going to Rosehead. Back top of the table as well. Four wins from fourth. It's going pretty well for you guys. Yeah, it is. But it's also so early in the season. We've seen everybody's been dropping points here, there and everywhere. And we've got a really tough game in Manchester United next week. So I think it's a good start for us. But, you know, it's not enough. We need to keep pushing now, keep our foot on the pedal and keep putting pressure and keep our gap at the top now because now we've got a little bit of a gap. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.