Bethany England is adamant there is more to come from Chelsea FC Women, despite hitting Bristol City for six at Kingsmeadow on Sunday.
The Blues overcame an early scare to win the game 6-1 with England adding her 13th and 14th goals of the season, while Ji So-Yun also scored twice with defenders Hannah Blundell and Jess Carter also notching on what was manager Emma Hayes’ 200th game in charge.The result maintains the pressure on Barclays FA Women’s Super League leaders Arsenal and second-placed Manchester City – who also both won – with the Blues four points off top spot with a game in hand.While our No.9 was happy with the points, she believes Hayes’ side could and should have scored more.She said: ‘A good win and we are happy with the result but we should have got more, especially myself. I got two goals but I’m still a bit disappointed as I had about 15 chances in the game!
‘There is more work to do and I’m sure the manager will speak to us about taking the chances. In this league goals are important and when we are getting good chances we should be burying them.‘It is something we have been working on and focusing on and while I’m glad we got six on the board, I am a bit gutted it wasn’t more.‘Ideally goals won’t make a difference as we want to win it [the league] on points but if it does come to goals, and Arsenal scored 11 v Bristol, it was a chance to close that gap.‘I’m disappointed in myself a little bit and I’m sure some of the other girls will think the same but at the end of the day it is about getting the win and the points are the best thing.'Next up is a Continental Tyres Cup quarter-final with Championship leaders Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow on Wednesday, while a mouth-watering trip to Arsenal awaits four days later.Chelsea have every reason to be confident ahead of the trip to Meadow Park, having beaten the Gunners 2-1 earlier in the season and by the same scoreline on our last trip to north London in the 2018/19 season.
‘All our eyes are set on the three points and giving Arsenal a strong game,’ said England.‘We are here to win the league and we’ve proved we can beat Arsenal once so we are definitely going to aim to do it again. Our minds are set on going to win the game, this isn’t the type of group to think of the possibilities.'
Victory over Bristol came despite several members of the squad being ruled out through illness. Captain Magda Eriksson, Maren Mjelde and Carly Telford were among those sidelined while new arrival Sam Kerr had to settle for a place on the bench after struggling with the illness during the week.Kerr came on for the second half and there were further signs of a budding partnership with England, something our England international striker is excited to be a part of.‘She is a great player and it’s nice to be playing with her,' said England. ‘She is a great girl, has settled in well and is training well when she’s been able to and even today she made a good impact setting me up a couple of times and I could have probably given an assist to her.‘There has been a bit of sickness going round which has been unfortunate but she Sam Kerr is doing well and you’ve got to give her time to settle as it’s hard for anyone, especially someone of her calibre and with her profile as she is under extra pressure.’Tickets for the Blues' Continental Tyres Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa, which takes place on Wednesday at Kingsmeadow (7pm kick-off), can be purchased online until 2pm on the day. After this tickets will only be available at our matchday booth at Kingsmeadow from 5.30pm on Wednesday.