A breathless opening 15 minutes saw the Blues show our dominance in some style, netting three times before the Hammers had the opportunity to regroup.

Aggie Beever-Jones stepped up to take an early free-kick full of confidence, having already scored goals against Manchester City, Aston Villa and Leicester City in our opening three matches of the season,

The in-form forward curled in a sublime effort to give us the lead to become the first Chelsea player to ever score four Women's Super League goals in our opening four games of the season.

It wasn't long before Johanna Rytting Kaneryd got in on the action. The Blues winger got herself in a good position inside the box and netted her first of the campaign from a Wieke Kaptein cross.

Still reeling from our second, West Ham afforded Erin Cuthbert too much space in the final third, and the Scotland international blasted her shot beyond Kinga Szemik to put us 3-0 up and firmly in control after just a quarter of an hour.

With the game seemingly already beyond the home side's grasp, things went from bad to worse for them when Ines Bellomou was sent off for an apparent hair pull on Alyssa Thompson after 26 minutes.

West Ham steadied the ship for the latter part of the first half and long periods of the second. Yet Kaptein sealed the points with a crisp finish, following some brilliant link-up play with second-half substitute Catarina Macario.

Breathless start

Sonia Bompastor handed new signing Thompson her first start for Chelsea, deploying her as an attacking wing-back, with Rytting Kaneryd on the opposite flank. That allowed Ellie Carpenter and Sandy Baltimore to take a rest, while Oriane Jean-Francois came into the midfield in place of Macario.

The match began with a dangerous attack from the home side as Katrina Gorry raced forward and crossed low for Viviane Asseyi. The French striker stretched to meet the ball, but couldn't guide the shot on target.

Yet it was the Blues who opened the scoring after just eight minutes when we were awarded a free-kick outside the box. Beever-Jones stepped up to strike the dead ball and curled in a powerful effort that Szemik had no chance of saving.

Just two minutes later, the Hammers hit back, and a close-range shot from Gorry rattled the outside of the post, but a relentless Chelsea side were soon back on the attack.

Our second came when a cross from the left byline from Kaptein found Rytting Kaneryd unmarked in the box. Having slipped between her two defenders, the Swedish forward was able to tap home with relative ease.

Cuthbert in control

West Ham barely had chance to catch their breath before they were three goals behind. Cuthbert – who had been finding large pockets of space and driving forward in the early stages – picked the ball up in 30 yards of space, advanced up the pitch unchallenged and drilled a long-range shot into the top corner.

At 3-0 down after 15 minutes, the home side's frustration was showing, and they were soon reduced to 10 players when Ines Belloumou was punished with a red card for a hair pull on Thompson.

Chelsea continued to dominate, and in first-half stoppage time, Rytting Kaneryd broke through and supplied a pass to Kaptein, and the Netherlands international hit the outside of the post with her effort.

Second-half chances

Into the second half and the Blues continued in the same vein as the first, going close again when Jean-Francois fired an attempt into the side netting.

During a week when she had been awarded the Yashin Trophy for her prowess between the sticks, Hampton had barely been troubled during the first hour of the match, but was ready when called upon to palm away Asseyi's shot from a free-kick.

Bompastor made a triple substitution when Guro Reiten, Macario and Baltimore were all introduced on the hour mark. Reiten took an opportunity to get herself on the scoresheet not long afterwards, but had her attempt blocked.

Exciting finish

Hampton then showed her quality once more. Ffion Morgan broke through into a one-on-one with the goalkeeper and looked certain to score, only for our award-winning stopper to make herself big and somehow prevent the shot.

The Blues raced straight down the other end of the pitch, and Kaptein played a slick one-two with Macario, before the young forward slotted home the finish to round off a solid performance.

Macario was looking lively and then had an attempt of her own, but Szemik palmed away her powerful close-range effort. Then, with just five minutes of normal time remaining, the USA international was desperately unlucky not to grab a goal of her own as she smashed a shot onto the underside of the bar.

Sam Kerr, who had come on to an enormous cheer from the travelling Blues, also had a low shot saved well by the goalkeeper in the dying stages of the match.

When the final whistle went, the Blues had kept a clean sheet and scored four goals away from home, while cementing our position at the top of the WSL table. A good afternoon's work all round.

What it means

Chelsea sit two points clear at the top of the league table, having taken four wins from our opening four matches of the season.

What comes next

We take on Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village on Friday 3 October at 7.30pm.

The teams

Chelsea: Hampton, Bjorn, Bright, Buurman, Thompson (Baltimore, 60), Jean-Francois (Reiten 60), Walsh, Cuthbert (Hamano 71), Rytting Kaneryd, Kaptein (Kerr 71), Beever-Jones (Macario 60)
Unused Substitutes: Peng, Alber, Nusken, Carpenter
Scorers: Beever-Jones 8, Rytting Kaneryd 12, Cuthbert 14, Kaptein 70
Booked: Bright 32 Bjorn 51

West Ham: Szemik, Denton, Tysiak, Nystrom, Zadorsky, Belloumou, Siren, Gorry (Piubel 78), Morgan (Endo 81), Ueki (Wandeler 90), Asseyi (Martinez 81)
Unused Substitutes: Walsh, Pavi, Csiki, Brasero, Hanshaw,
Booked: Zadorsky 7, Nystrom 77
Sent off: Belloumou 23

Referee: Callum Jones