Chelsea player ratings vs Aston Villa: USWNT star Catarina Macario ...
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Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano and Kadeisha Buchanan were all on the scoresheet for the reigning champions as they responded to Sunday's FA Cup exit
Chelsea will go into their huge Women's Champions League semi-final against Barcelona on a high after goals from Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano and Kadeisha Buchanan saw the Blues beat Aston Villa 3-0 to return to the top of the Women's Super League table.
It was always going to be tough for Villa to get a result on Wednesday, but that difficult task quickly became near-impossible when goalkeeper Anna Leat was sent off for handball with less than four minutes played. Sjoeke Nusken was alert to a sloppy pass and her first-time shot caused Leat to panic and dive to save, despite being well out of her box.
It took less than 15 minutes for Chelsea to take advantage, Niamh Charles' cross and Beever-Jones' clever finish capping a nice team move, and it was two before the break when Hamano met Ashley Lawrence's delivery at the back post for her first goal for the club.
The Blues added to that lead just past the hour when Kadeisha Buchanan converted Catarina Macario's corner, and that sealed a win which took the reigning champions back to the top of the table and saw them bounce back from two cup defeats in quick succession ahead of Saturday's huge European tie.
GOAL rates Chelsea's players from Kingsmeadow...
