Kerolin hat-trick leads Man City to 5-1 win over Chelsea — 11-point WSL lead

Manchester City opened up an 11-point gap at the top of the Women’s Super League on Feb. 1, 2026, beating six-time reigning champions Chelsea 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium and leaving the title race all but wrapped up with eight games remaining. Kerolin scored a hat-trick and Khadija Shaw and Vivianne Miedema also found the net as City produced a statement performance.

Blues boss Sonia Bompastor had admitted last week she felt the title race was already over, and this result only strengthened that view. Kerolin broke the deadlock after 13 minutes with a half-volley; Chelsea saw an equaliser ruled out for a narrow offside before Shaw finished from Vivianne Miedema’s through-ball to make it 2-0 at half-time, beating Naomi Girma to the pass and slotting past Hannah Hampton.

Four minutes after the restart Kerolin led a one-woman counter from inside her own half and dinked the ball over Hampton, then completed her treble five minutes later by meeting Lauren Hemp’s cross. Miedema added a header after Alyssa Thompson had pulled one back for Chelsea. GOAL’s ratings highlighted Kerolin as the standout with a 10/10, with several teammates given 8/10s (including Kerstin Casparij, Rebecca Knaak, Shaw, Miedema and Hemp).

GOAL also awarded manager Andree Jeglertz a 7/10, noting he learned from earlier defeats and could rest key players by using his bench early.

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