Kerr nets double as Chelsea crowned WSL champion

READING, England – Sam Kerr scored twice as Chelsea cruised to a 3-0 victory over Reading on Saturday, May 27, to win their fourth consecutive FA Women’s Super League title, completing a league and FA Cup double on the last day of the season and condemning their hosts to relegation.

The Blues finished on 58 points from 22 games, two ahead of runners-up Manchester United, who beat Liverpool 1-0 and 11 ahead of Arsenal, who finish third in the final Champions League spot.

Reading finished bottom of the 12-team league and are relegated to the second-tier Championship.

Chelsea opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Guro Reiten crossed for Australia international Kerr to steal a march on her defender and head home, and Reiten netted the second in the 42nd minute.

Kerr netted again in the 88th minute to complete the rout and add the WSL to the FA Cup they won on penalties against Manchester United on May 14.

Needing a win to have any hope of winning their first WSL title, Manchester United traveled to Prenton Park to face Liverpool hoping for a favor from Reading, but as news of Chelsea’s first-half goals filtered through, the traveling support fell silent.

Substitute Lucia Garcia scored the only goal of the game in the 72nd minute for United. However, despite a fantastic season in which they were top of the table for more than 100 days, they came up short in the end and will have to console themselves with a first qualification for Europe.

Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly finished the season as top scorer on 22 goals, netting the opener against Arsenal as Villa closed out the season with a 2-0 win.

After spending most of the season struggling, Leicester City completed a strong finish by beating Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 to finish in 10th spot, ahead of the Seagulls on goal difference.

Manchester City had a disappointing season as they missed out on Europe but finished with a 3-2 win over Everton, while Bethany England scored again as Tottenham Hotspur drew 2-2 away at West Ham United. – Rappler.com