Chelsea beat Liverpool on late Kerr goal to keep WSL hopes alive

Updated: Oct 12, 2023, 03:19 pm

An 86th minute winner from Sam Kerr has kept Chelsea in the title hunt after the Blues were forced to come from behind at home in a 2-1 win over Liverpool in a rearranged fixture on Wednesday night.

In a match that was abandoned after just six minutes due to a frozen pitch 14 weeks ago, Chelsea finally played the postponed home fixture against Liverpool and wound up with a result that leaves them within four points of leaders Manchester United with two games in hand.

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Needing to be faultless to catch and overtake Manchester United at the top of the table, the match also represented the first of seven games the Blues have to play in 24 days.

It was a nightmare start for Chelsea, who dropped three big points on Merseyside against the Reds on the first day of the season. It took Liverpool less than two minutes to open the scoring in Kingston when Natasha Dowie floated in behind Jess Carter and sent a cross in to be met by Emma Koivisto at the back post.

With a lead to hold onto, the Reds dug in with some eye-catching defending to keep the hosts frustrated until former Liverpool player Niamh Charles nodded an equaliser late in the half.

At the other end, Even Perisset, who had just teed Charles up, make a goal-saving challenge to ensure the two went in at the break on even terms.

Starved of the ball after the break, Liverpool were forced to dig deep to repel Chelsea's best efforts and staunchly defend in hopes of taking something back to Merseyside, with debutante goalkeeper Faye Kirby playing a starring role.

Denied by the offside flag five minutes previous, the Blues finally found their winner four minutes from time when Kerr rifled home the rebound after Jessie Fleming had crashed an effort from range against the bar.

Still chasing down both Manchester teams above them --  but with two games in hand over the both -- Chelsea are back in action against Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton on Sunday while the Reds face Manchester City.