West Ham Women 0-5 Chelsea Women
Chelsea Women 1-0 Durham Women
Chelsea Men 2-2 Bournemouth Men
Chelsea Men 3-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Men
On a chilly Wednesday night at Kingsmeadow, lower-league Durham were surprisingly just 1-0 down at half-time – Aggie Beever-Jones having put Chelsea ahead in the 21st minute, with her third goal in three games.
But fitness and rotation told in the end, and Chelsea breezed through as 5-0 victors by the final whistle, with Oriane Jean-Francois firing an unstoppable missile from the edge of the area before three rapid-fire goals from Erin Cuthbert (watched by her proud dad in the stand), Guro Reiten and Maika Hamano sealed the deal.
Hamano's goal was the most remarkable of all. Launched from the right flank, the ball looped high into the night air before evading the helpless backpedalling of Durham substitute keeper Riley Foster and flying into the back of the net.
It means that Chelsea will host West Ham on the weekend of 5 and 6 February - the team that the Blues also defeated 5-0 away last weekend!
Cuthbert was again on the scoresheet at the Chigwell stadium, netting on her 250th appearance as a Blue. Other strikes from Catarina Macario, Beever-Jones, Sandy Baltimore and an own goal clinched the result.
So now the stage is set for Sunday at Stamford Bridge when the Blues, seven points ahead at the top of the WSL, host likeliest rivals Arsenal in front of more than 30,000 people.
It promises to be a tough one. Manager Sonia Bompastor saved a few of her top choices on the bench for the Durham match, including Mayra Ramirez and Millie Bright.
But Arsenal will be up for this match, and they'll be bringing a noisy contingent of supporters to the Bridge for the lunchtime game.
As for the men? Well, it's never a good time to travel north to face Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, even a City who have been as hit-and-miss as Chelsea in recent weeks. But that's the assignment for the Blues as they travel to the Etihad on Saturday.
It will follow a good 3-1 win against Wolves at the Bridge, and a hard-earned 2-2 draw against one of this season's real surprise packages, Bournemouth.
The Cherries arrived in SW6 and, in what seems to be the template for the season, fell behind to a Cole Palmer goal in just 12 minutes.
But also, in the spirit of so many Chelsea games in the past month, the Blues then generously gave away their advantage.
An equaliser from the spot, then a left-foot rocket into the roof of the net from Antoine Semenyo after 68 minutes, seemed to have completed a great comeback and a great away win.
But to choruses of 'He's one of our own', Reece James came on as a second-half sub and galvanised the troops. Fourth official Andy Davies held up his board at the end of normal time to indicate eight extra minutes.
In the fourth of those, James shaped up to take a free kick 30 yards out. Walls were built by Bournemouth to block any serious attempt on goal, and the injury-prone defender launched a howitzer.
It curled majestically around the side of the wall and nestled in the Cherries' net for a late, late leveller that felt to all the world like a winner.
The Wolves win followed a similar pattern. Chelsea took the lead in the first half, the visitors clawed a goal back, then two second-half strikes earned the Blues maximum points.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
