WSL: Chelsea beat Aston Villa 3-0 to go top - reaction

We've got plenty of football still to bring you this week both domestically and in Europe.

Friday

• Brighton v Everton, 19:00 - WSL

Saturday

• Bristol v Liverpool, 12:30 - WSL
• FC Barcelona v Chelsea, 12:30 - UWCL (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Sunday

• Manchester United v Tottenham, 12:00 - WSL
• Arsenal Women v Leicester, 14:00 - WSL
• Manchester City v West Ham, 14:15 - WSL (BBC iPlayer and Red Button)

Aston Villa boss Carla Ward speaking to Sky Sports: "The game plan kind of had to change before the team has come out to warm up with that change. The after four minutes it has to change again. You can either roll over or roll your sleeves up and this group deserve a lot of credit tonight.

"It’s difficult coming here with 11 players let alone 10. Sophia Poor at 17 in goal, first senior game, they deserve an awful lot of credit for the way they reacted tonight."

More on Poor: "We don’t have a third keeper. It was a strain, something the physios have tried to strap up and she’s got on with to be fair. It might seize up tonight but credit to her, she didn’t want to come off.

"You saw us scratch our heads trying to work out who was going to go in goal and I think Rachel Corsie was next. So much has been chucked at us tonight and everyone has got on with it. There will be some tired bodies out there tonight."

Result could have been a lot worse: "It wasn’t and that’s important to hold onto. We managed to take some heart away from the night."

Statistically speaking Chelsea are now Carla Ward's least preferred opponent in the WSL.

Tonight's defeat was her eighth against the Blues, the most against a single opponent in the competition.

The aggregate score of those eight defeats? 24-1.

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Chelsea boss Emma Hayes speaking to Sky Sports: "The state of the game made it different. The players showed up until the end.

On Aston Villa's early red card: "I hate that rule, I don’t really like it. I know it serves as an advantage to us but it’s one of those rules in football I don’t like, the goalkeeper getting sent off like that. I understand it was a goalscoring situation.

"When you have to play against 10 players, the mentality of 10 is always to make it a lot harder and I thought Aston Villa did really well to stay in the game as long as they did.

On the clean sheet and importance of goal difference in the title race: "It could. We have to just focus on what we can control. We got three points and broke a losing streak which is important."

"Happy to get three points, happy to get in my car and go home. I’m looking forward to that to be honest.

On the upcoming Champions League semi-final against Barcelona: "One day’s training to prepare for a semi-final of the Champions League. That’s what we’ve got and we’ve got to get all the information across."

On Lauren James' injury and if she will be available on Saturday: "I don’t know. We’ll have to see when the players come back in on Friday."

SMS Message: Perfect for Chelsea, they kept players fresh for Barcelona while adding more goals in the second half. Why on earth haven't we seen more of Sophie Ingle this season for Chelsea?! from William

Perfect for Chelsea, they kept players fresh for Barcelona while adding more goals in the second half. Why on earth haven't we seen more of Sophie Ingle this season for Chelsea?!

Chelsea goalscorer Aggie Beever-Jones speaking to Sky Sports: "It meant a lot. We had a lot of anger coming into this game today and we knew we needed to get a big result. We were able to do that today so we’re delighted with the win and the three points."

More on that anger and what the week looked like: "We’re Chelsea and we want to win as much as we can. Losing two titles isn’t the Chelsea way and it’s not how we wanted it to go this year. I think it’s evident how to bounce back from losses like that. We’re just happy with the three points. We’ve still got two titles to fight for and today was the first step in that process.

"Emma talks a lot about the mental game and the resilience to come back from setbacks. All week we’ve had meetings about what went wrong and how we need to improve."

On what it would mean to start against Barcelona on Saturday: "I’m just focusing on small targets at the moment and getting a start tonight was all I was focusing on. It’s a massive game at the weekend but tonight we were focusing on that and I’d like to think I’m giving the right people headaches."

Victory this evening means that Chelsea have now won 24 of their last 25 home games in the WSL.

The one game they did lose in that run? The 1-0 defeat to title rivals Man City back in February.

BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport

So Chelsea do their job and now it's back over to Manchester City this weekend.

They host strugglers West Ham at Joie Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

For now though Chelsea's attentions turn to Barcelona on Saturday and their quest to win a first-ever Women's Champions League.

Enough to win, job done in terms of points, back to the top of the league. Could they have scored more goals? Absolutely. Should they have scored more goals? Yes. It sums up what Chelsea are like, where they are at the moment. They are sort of stop-start stuttering at the moment.

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Job done for Chelsea.

A dominant performance, three goals and a clean sheet. A solid response to their double cup disappointment in recent weeks and plenty to be positive about ahead of their European trip to Barcelona this weekend.

A spirited display from Villa who simply did not have luck on their side tonight. A defeat yes, but given the adversity, an overall performance to be proud of for Carla Ward.

All action striker/ left back/ runner extraordinaire Rachel Daly is down after receiving a knock to the head.

Again she was there in front of her own goal line making sure her side kept another Chelsea attack at bay.

It must be said that many may have feared for Villa when Chelsea made it 3-0 with 25 minutes or so to go.

But while the home side have had the lion's share of the ball, the visitors, who have been down to ten players since the fourth minute have done well to keep the score at three goals.

Maika Hamano chips a ball forward for Fran Kirby to chase but it is overhit and rolls harmlessly through to Sophia Poor.

Villa have a free kick on the half way line which is lofted forward towards the Chelsea box.

The header clear drops to Kirsty Hanson, but her volley is speculative at best and loops over the crossbar from some 30 yards out.

Actually scratch that, we head into nine (yes nine) minutes of stoppage time.

Not long for Villa to hold out now.

They have more or less quelled the Chelsea threat since the third goal from Kadeisha Buchanan after 65 minutes.

Mayra Ramirez has been a handful since she came on though.

Well she's done a lot of defensive work tonight, more than most all the Villa side, but perhaps striker Rachel Daly would not be too keen to add 'Goalkeeper' next to 'Occasional left-back' on her resume.

Villa keeper Sophia Poor is down yet again, and the medical staff have come on to administer more treatment.

Fans, hard to tell home or away, are chanting 'Rachel Daly, get her in goal.'

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Free kick to Villa midway through the Chelsea half.

Kirsty Hanson sends it towards the back post but Chelsea clear and immediately launch a counter.

The ball is sent forward in search of Fran Kirby but it has too much pace on it, and is gathered by Sophia Poor.