Chelsea cruised past Brighton as summer signing Sjoeke Nusken bagged herself a double in her second start for the Blues.
Brighton travelled to Chelsea following back-to-back defeats in the WSL and it was always going to be a tall order attempting to take points off the champions at their home fortress.
Chelsea had won 17 consecutive matches at Kingsmeadow in the WSL – the last time they lost here was in February 2021 in this same fixture.
And if there had been any hope that an upset could be repeated then this was firmly extinguished by Sjoeke Nusken who scored two goals and forced an own goal from Brighton’s Bergsvand.
Brighton started the match confidently, looking dangerous going forward particularly with England international Katie Robinson making rapid runs on the right wing.
Sjoeke Nusken scored two goals as Chelsea eased past Brighton on Sunday afternoon
And it was Robinson who found herself in space in the 8th minute, delivering a brilliant cross across the face of goal which Pauline Bremer pounced on at the back post, stunning the home crowd.
But Chelsea looked the most likely to score after the initial shock however, peppering the Albion goal with shot after shot, ending the match with a total of 29 on target to Brighton’s seven.
Emma Hayes’s side found the equaliser just before half-time, with Sjoeke Nusken heading past Sophie Baggaley.
The second-half was firmly Chelsea’s and Nusken put the Blues ahead shortly after the break when she capitalised on a pass from Sam Kerr. She was unlucky not to be given a hattrick when she forced an own goal from Brighton defender Bergsvand. Agnes Beever-Jones scored Chelsea’s fourth, her first for the club.
Elisabeth Terland scored in the 90th minute to make the score 4-2.
Nusken scores Chelsea’s second goal of the game to put them ahead at Kingsmeadow
There were some promising signs from this Brighton team, however. They looked dangerous on the counter-attack and the link-up play between Robinson and Bremer is a promising relationship that seems to be strengthening the more matches they play together.
Seven of Brighton’s starting XI were signed in the summer and it was always going to take some time for them to settle in.
But things may get worse before they get better for Melissa Phillips’s side, with Brighton set to play their next three games against Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal – the rest of last season’s top four.
