Chelsea boss Hayes reacts to her side’s latest victory against Aston Villa | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes said that her side needed to be patient as they recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over 10-player Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow last night.

The Blues returned to the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table following their latest win. Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano and Kadeisha Buchanan were all on target as Chelsea leapfrogged title rivals Manchester City.

While Chelsea were heavily fancied to win the match, they were given a helping hand after just four minutes when Aston Villa goalkeeper Anna Leat was sent-off. When speaking to the media after the match, Chelsea boss Hayes discussed how she felt the game changed following that key moment.

“It’s a challenge playing against 10,” Hayes said. “You have to be more patient and in the second half, I didn’t think we were patient enough. We just wanted to go direct whereas in the first half, we were a little more patient.

“When you play against 10, you think you’ve got to be in a hurry and sometimes, it just needs the extra pass or not to play the first pass.”

Japanese international forward Hamano netted her first Chelsea goal in the match and Hayes said that the player has a huge future ahead of her in South West London.

She said “Maika put in a super performance. For someone who hasn’t played a lot football, she showed an unbelievable amount of energy and work-rate. She showed her qualities.

“She’s going to be a really big player for Chelsea’s future and she also can do it in Chelsea’s present. The squad are so happy for her, she’s a lovely individual.”

Chelsea had 13 corners in the match. A goal came from one of those deliveries with Catarina Macário providing an assist for Buchanan’s header. Hayes was pleased with her side’s balls into the opposition box.

“I thought Cat’s delivery was excellent,” Hayes said. “I thought we hit the right areas. It’s always about the first contact, about keeping it alive for the second phase but Aston Villa did a really good job and I thought the young keeper played well tonight in defending that area.”

Chelsea now turn their attention towards their UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final, first leg tie against FC Barcelona. Hayes is remaining level-headed ahead of that huge game.

She said “I look forward to every game. Of course, everybody wants to be in the Champions League semi-final but we don’t have much time to think too hard about it. We had to try to win in the league first and our brains can now switch to the Champions League.

“It’s rest first then we think about Friday and what we need to deliver in training. Then we go and play the first half, that’s all it is, the first half.”

Chelsea’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final, first leg tie against FC Barcelona kicks-off at 12.30pm on Saturday afternoon.