Everton Women’s suffered defeat for the first time in four games with a 3-0 home loss to Chelsea.
The damage was done inside half an hour, as Chelsea raced into a three-goal lead early on.
Chris Roberts made four changes to the side that beat Leicester City 3-2 on Saturday, with Courtney Brosnan, Nathalie Björn, Simone Magill and Claire Emslie coming in for Sandy MacIver, Kenza Dali, Toni Duggan and Anna Anvegård.
Sam Kerr gave the visitors the lead inside seven minutes, connecting with Sophie Ingle’s floating cross to nod past Brosnan into the bottom left corner.
The reigning WSL champions doubled their lead eight minutes later, as Guro Reiten’s deflected effort from the edge of the box flew past Brosnan, doubling the visitors advantage.
Chelsea struck again in the 29th minute, when Erin Cuthbert fired her effort into the top right corner from 30 yards.
Despite being under sustained pressure for most of the half, Everton continued to push, driving forward whenever they managed to win back possession, through the likes of Emslie and Aurora Galli.
Hanna Bennison recorded Everton’s first shot of the game, firing over from distance.
At the half time break, Roberts would have been wearied by the attacking prowess of Chelsea’s forward line, but encouraged by the non-stop work rate and effort his side had shown.
Everton’s first foray forward of the second half almost saw Magill played through on goal, but Millie Bright came across well to cover.
Poppy Pattinson tried her luck from long distance after cutting out a clearance from the Chelsea defence, but her effort flew harmlessly over the crossbar.
Everton’s left-back was once again involved as she floated a free kick narrowly wide from the right wing.
The Toffees began to enjoy more of the ball as the second half went on, but failed to make it count, as Chelsea stopper Zecira Musovic remained largely untroubled.
Danielle Turner came the closest to pulling a goal back for Everton in the 86th minute, cutting in and firing wide with her left footed shot.
Referee James Bell’s whistle called an end to the game, after a much improved second half from Everton.
Next up for Everton is FA Cup action, as they travel to Manchester City on Sunday.
