Against Villa, the Blues had created plenty, firing 35 shots towards the opposition's goal, with the data revealing we created an xG (Expected Goals) rating of 3.6. Yet we found the back of the net just once, and a late equaliser from the visitors meant we came away with just one point to show from such a dominant display.

After the match, head coach Sonia Bompastor explained why clinical finishing is so important. 'The reality of football is that in this kind of game, we need to be two or three-nil up by half-time, and the game is over,' she said in her post-match press conference. 'Then, it's a completely different game coming into the second half because when you have two or three goals difference, you can bring players in, rotate the squad.'

Her words acted as a prophecy of sorts as the Blues raced into a 2-0 lead by half-time against Manchester United thanks to goals from Sjoeke Nusken and Keira Walsh. Lauren James promptly added a third on the hour mark.

True to what she explained the previous week, Bompastor made a triple substitution in the 71st minute, rotating James, Katie McCabe and Alyssa Thompson for Sandy Baltimore, Veerle Buurman and Maika Hamano, before goals from Ellie Carpenter and Lucy Bronze completed the rout. Here's a look at how we turned our fortunes around.

Clinical Blues

Against Villa, we created enough chances to produce an xG rating of 3.6, but netted only once. In contrast, we produced a rating of 2.94 against Manchester United but outscored that number with five goals on the day.

After the match, Wieke Kaptein explained that the Blues had been working on crossing through the week in training, and that approach certainly paid off.

The stats reveal that clinical finishing made the difference against the Red Devils, as we scored five times from 25 shots on goal and 30 crosses. Against Villa, we scored once from ten more shots (35) and 11 more crosses (41), showing that quality over quantity was key to our success at the Progress With Unity Stadium.

Dominating the opposition

Keen to ensure we took all three points away from Manchester, Bompastor played an aggressive formation. Katie McCabe and Lucy Bronze pushed up high, leaving just Kadeisha Buchanan from the back three to stay deep and alert to the danger of counter-attacks.

McCabe and Bronze supported a double-pivot midfield made up of Lexi Potter and Keira Walsh, while we went for an all-out attack with a front five of Ellie Carpenter, Kaptein, James, Nusken and Alyssa Thompson.

Meanwhile, Manchester United were playing only their second match under new boss Eva Olid since parting ways with longstanding head coach Marc Skinner in the summer.

Bompastor's ruthless approach gave a side attempting to implement a new style of play no choice but to retreat backwards to deal with the constant goal threats from our talented front five, as the graphic below shows. The home side were reduced to an xG of 0.20, attempting just two shots on goal and taking only four touches in our box.

Our all-out attacking approach may not be the correct solution for every match, but on Sunday it worked perfectly. Not only did we secure all three points, but the performance will have undoubtedly boosted the team's confidence in the shooting department.

Unsung hero Kaptein

While Kaptein was not among the scorers on Sunday, her determined performance was crucial to the win. Unselfishly working to make the attack click, the Netherlands international created the most chances of anyone during the afternoon (four), and also regained possession more than any other Chelsea player, winning the ball back on ten separate occasions.

Her tenacity allowed us to keep up the relentless pressure up front, also winning three aerial duels and making 24 passes in the final third of the pitch.

‘We kept possession a little bit longer, saw where the spaces were,' Kaptein said afterwards. 'Then I think a lot of people were in front of the goal, which was really good. So every time they came across or when there was an opportunity, I think everyone was ready for it.'

Walsh shines going forward

Usually known for her elite skills in the holding midfield role, Keira Walsh made a strong display in attack during what was her 50th appearance for Chelsea in our 5-0 win on Sunday.

Scoring with a beautifully-struck effort from outside the box to put us two goals in front, Walsh also assisted James after 61 minutes and won the Player of the Match trophy for her performance. The heat map below shows how she got forward into shooting range, in particular the right-hand side of the final third.

Ordinarily, if Walsh were to make forward runs like those indicated on the heat map, she would be leaving a gaping hole in front of the defence. Yet the experienced England international was free to advance, thanks to her midfield partner and Chelsea Academy graduate Lexi Potter.

The 20-year-old had the highest pass completion rate of the entire team (91.7 per cent from 48 attempts), showing that she was careful with the ball and executed her role in the system perfectly.

‘Lexi deserves to get minutes in this team,' said Bompastor afterwards. 'She's a really good player. Sometimes it depends on the tactics, the different profiles we want to use and the different systems we are playing. But it was a good opportunity for her, and she had a good performance.'

On this occasion, our head coach trusted Potter to keep the ball moving, without losing possession in dangerous areas. She did exactly that, which in turn allowed her midfield partner Walsh to have so much success in attack.

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