Welcome to Full Time, The Athletic’s women’s football column — a one-stop shop every Monday to discuss the big issues in the game across the UK and Europe.
The main story
The ink was barely dry on Chelsea’s most complete performance of the season before the news dropped. The club’s announcement that Emma Hayes would leave her role as Chelsea manager at the end of the season took everyone by surprise.
This included her own players, who were reportedly told on the coach back to London.
Hayes’ exit will shake up the Women’s Super League in a way that has perhaps never been seen before, which is a testament to her dominance within it. But before that plays out, the league will have to sit through her farewell tour. Chelsea were probably always favourites to win the league but, with this news, the desire to win a fifth consecutive title will have gone up a notch.
On Saturday’s evidence, the team is in a pretty good place. Aston Villa are going through a miserable time of it but this was Chelsea’s most complete performance of the season so far. They thrashed Carla Ward’s side 6-0 with six different goalscorers — and could probably have had more. This was done without Sam Kerr, Lauren James or Guro Reiten featuring.
How the squad deals with the announcement of…
