EMMA HAYES believes Chelsea’s title-winning chase this season has been her hardest after main her aspect to a fourth successive league crown.
Sam Kerr’s brace and Guro Reiten’s skilful strike paved the best way for the Blues’ 3-0 win in opposition to Studying with the Royals relegated to the Championship.
Emma Hayes hailed Chelsea for locating alternative ways to win after the Blues lifted their sixth WSL titleCredit score: Getty
Hayes described Chelsea’s triumph as a victory for her backroom employees in addition to her workforce however stated she was unhappy to see Kelly Chambers’ aspect relegatedCredit score: PA
Chelsea notched up 19 wins in 22 WSL video games on their option to profitable the titleCredit score: Getty
Chelsea’s sixth title win got here in season that noticed Hayes absent from the dugout for a interval with the top coach recovering from an emergency hysterectomy.
Her gamers maintained their profitable streak throughout that spell, with Blues assistant Denise Reddy and normal supervisor Paul Inexperienced on the touchline and Hayes in contact with them remotely.
And their home kind choosing up following their gaffer’s return.
In direction of the top of the season the workforce gained their final seven video games throughout all competitions scoring 25 targets and conceding simply as soon as.
Throughout that run the Blues lifted the FA Cup for a fifth time.
And their solely home losses this time period occurred in opposition to Liverpool within the league in September, and to Arsenal within the Conti Cup closing in March
Hayes, 46, stated: “This has positively been the toughest yr.
“I’m relieved that it’s over, for plenty of causes.
“I’m truly a bit unhappy as a result of profitable the league and relegating a pal doesn’t really feel good in my soul, with who I’m.
“It’s a victory for the workforce as a result of my backroom employees have carried me in so many various methods this yr.
“They’ve been unbelievable, notably within the first a part of the season once I was unwell.
“The workforce has carried one another and the senior gamers who didn’t play as a lot.
“I feel different seniors picked them up, and the second half of the season we noticed so lots of our newer gamers begin to bear fruit.
“We discovered alternative ways to win, and you need to, it will probably’t look the identical on a regular basis.”
Chelsea’s title triumph noticed them break the file for probably the most wins in a season by a WSL aspect with the workforce profitable 19 of their 22 video games this time period.
Considered one of their standout performers this time period has been Norway ahead Reiten who has notched up 9 targets within the WSL this time period.
Hayes added: “Guro deserves to be recognised as the most effective gamers on the planet as a result of she is
“She’s my participant of the season. She’s unreal and distinctive. She’s actually grown up and turn into a frontrunner on this workforce.
“I feel (for us) if you’re at all times chasing the entire yr, since you lose the primary recreation after which video games are cancelled.
“It nearly felt just like the strain wasn’t on us in some ways, as a result of we have been by no means within the entrance place for lengthy.
“This yr we knew we needed to dig out outcomes generally after we didn’t create many possibilities, these kind of issues.
“It’s simply unbelievable character from the gamers to try this.
“I feel it’s the identical off the pitch, my employees have been unreal at conserving the workforce ticking alongside.”
Studying’s loss sees Kelly Chambers’ aspect return to the Championship for the primary time since 2015.
The Royals have beforehand been one of many WSL’s most resilient sides attaining mid-table finishes lately,
Underneath Chambers, who’s a mum-of-one and pregnant along with her baby, the workforce completed fourth in 2018.
Nonetheless accidents to gamers together with Rachel Rowe and ahead Deanne Rose has seen them wrestle in latest months.
Royals boss Chambers stated: “If you’re attempting to compete with the groups in and round us this season, it was at all times going to get tougher and tougher each season, particularly if you haven’t had the funding to maintain up with these groups.
“We’re the place we are actually. It would damage, particularly for somebody like myself who’s been right here for therefore lengthy.
“It’s a case of reset, rebuild and go once more.”
Studying’s relegation is available in a yr that has seen the membership’s males’s aspect drop down from the Championship to League One.
On whether or not the ladies’s workforce will stay a full-time outfit, Chambers added: “I hope so.
“We’ve acquired gamers and employees who’re nonetheless with us in full-time capability, so yeah, that’s what I need to occur.
Kelly Chambers says Studying shall be centered on a reset and rebuild following their relegationCredit score: Getty
“If we need to be a workforce who competes and bounces again within the championship that’s the best way the championship goes now.
“If you will be in that league and also you need to compete, you’ve acquired to be in that set-up.
“They’re the plans I’ve put ahead so fingers crossed that the membership can assist us doing that.”