The Barclays Women’s Super League have nominated Emma Hayes for Manager of the Month for the third time this term, while Bethany England and Sophie Ingle are both in contention for Player of the Month – voting is open to the general public now!
The Chelsea boss, who won the prize in October, has been shortlisted for this month’s award after guiding her side to a perfect start to 2020 with three wins from three in the league, as well as sealing a Continental Tyres League Cup semi-final spot.
The second half of the season began with a visit from Reading and the Blues managed a come-from-behind victory thanks to goals from England, Guro Reiten and Erin Cuthbert.
Chelsea then hosted Bristol City and marked Hayes’ 200th game in charge in some style, as a brace apiece from Ji So-Yun and England, plus goals from Hannah Blundell and Jess Carter, resulted in a 6-1 drubbing.
And just three days later, we booked our place into the Continental Tyres League Cup semi-final for a third consecuative season when we beat Championship side Aston Villa 3-1 at Kingsmeadow. Second-half goals from skipper Magdalena Eriksson, Ji and academy player Emily Murphy ensured that we progressed to the last four of the competition.
Arguably our most important victory of the 2019/20 campaign thus far came last weekend when we produced another attacking masterclass to defeat reigning champions Arsenal 4-1 on their patch, leaving the WSL title race wide open.
England got the dice rolling 10 minutes into the contest, followed by new signing Sam Kerr netting her first ever Chelsea goal, and by 20 minutes we were 3-0 up thanks to an Ingle wonderstrike. Although the Gunners reduced the deficit by one in the later stages of the match, Reiten added the fourth to cap off a superb London derby win.
Other manager nominees are: Nick Cushing (Manchester City) and Joe Montemurro (Arsenal).
The award is decided by a combination of votes from a panel and fans, and you can vote for Hayes here.
Chelsea’s top goalscorer, who has 15 in all competitions, is in fine form having bagged four goals in three games in January. The 26-year-old rounded Reading’s goalkeeper to slot into an empty net in our opening game of the new year, helping earn her the Player of the Match award.
The following week she underlined her aerial dominance with a pair of headers in the Blues’ 6-1 win over Bristol City, before showing her qualities with the ball at her feet as she jinked past Louise Quinn and curled a stunner into the top corner against Arsenal.Vote for England as your Player of the month here.
Other players shortlisted are: Pauline Bremer (Manchester City), Chloe Kelly (Everton) and Anke Preuss (Liverpool).
Team-mate Sophie Ingle is also in the running having marshalled the Blues throughout our perfect January from her defensive midfield position. The Wales captain has dominated the middle of the park whilst also being the rock in front of the Chelsea back four.Her team have conceded only three league goals this month and on top of that, she may have already stolen the Goal of the Season honours with an incredible left-footed half-volley in our victory over the Gunners last week. The No.5 quite deservedly picked up the Barclays Women’s Super League award after that strike!Vote for Ingle as your Player of the month here.Chelsea's next game is an FA Cup tie at Charlton Athletic on Sunday, but we’re back at Kingsmeadow on Sunday 2 February for the visit of West Ham United.