Chelsea put six past Charlton to go back on top

Chelsea put six goals past Charlton to return to the top of the Women’s Super League, according to BBC Sport’s report.

That is the clean, important part of it. Chelsea are back in first place, and they have done it with a striking amount of attacking force: 27 goals in eight league games, per the BBC. In a title race, that is not decorative. It changes the feel of the table as much as the look of it.

Charlton, the same report noted, are still without a point this season. So this was not billed as a meeting of equals, and the result fits that grim bit of league arithmetic. Chelsea’s job was to turn superiority into something concrete and emphatic; Charlton’s problem is that heavy days start to accumulate quickly when there is still nothing on the board.

There is a temptation with scorelines like this to file them away as business as usual against a struggling side. Fair enough, up to a point. But six goals and first place are still facts with weight, especially when they come attached to 27 in eight games. Chelsea did not just collect points here. They strengthened the sense that, at least for now, the team trying to catch them may also have to keep up with their scoring.