Less than two minutes had elapsed when the visiting Aston Villa broke the deadlock in west London. A wayward horizontal pass from Bronze was easily intercepted by Chasity Grant, who continued her run into the area and delivered a low cross that was tapped in at the near post.

Chelsea took control of the match from there and deserved their equalizer in the 20th minute, when Nusken played a pass to Kerr, and the Australian forward beat Ellie Roebuck, who had been caught out of position.

The Blues took the lead three minutes later when, from a short corner, United States national team star Girma got a slight touch on a curling cross from James. Chelsea's No. 10 added her name to the scoresheet four minutes later, cutting in from the right flank and firing a powerful low left-footed shot into the back of the net from 25 yards.

Rather than buckling under pressure, Villa grabbed a lifeline shortly after the half-hour mark, when Kirsty Hanson snuck in behind and got past Bronze to tap in a low cross from the right. Hanson leveled the match in the 35th minute, when a header from Bronze looped into the air and dropped for the Scottish forward, who volleyed a curling shot into the bottom corner.

A tight offside call denied Kerr a penalty after the restart, after Roebuck -- who later left the field in tears following an injury -- brought her down, while Hanson came close to completing her hat trick when a long-range effort struck the crossbar.

Six-time consecutive WSL champion Chelsea finally sealed the win eight minutes from time, when Kerr expertly controlled the ball for Nusken, who fired a pinpoint shot into the top corner from the edge of the area.

Standout Performances:

Once again, Chelsea's standout player was Lauren James, who always seemed to make the difference, adding a goal and an assist to her impressive 2025/26 season statistics.

Sam Kerr scored her first WSL goal since November and her third of the season with a clever finish that further highlighted what she is capable of when she gets the right pass, and assisted Nusken for the winning goal.

Sjoeke Nusken was a brilliant spark, with a wonderful pass that left Kerr one-on-one to score the Blues' first goal, before finishing coolly to seal all three points.

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