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Catarina Macario marked her first WSL start of the season with an early goal Chelsea strengthened their position at the top of the Women's Super League table as they cruised to victory over West Ham at the Chigwell Construction Stadium. Catarina Macario, Erin Cuthbert, Aggie Beever-Jones and Sandy Baltimore all fired superb efforts past hapless West Ham goalkeeper Kinga Szemik before Amber Tysiak turned into her own net late on as the Blues recorded their joint-biggest away win since September. Macario opened the scoring when the ball fell to her just inside the penalty area, latching on to it with a side-footed volley over Szemik. Cuthbert got the Blues' second with a drilled effort from outside the penalty area, with Beever-Jones emulating that goal with one of her own from a similar distance that crashed in off the far post before half-time. French international Baltimore made it four shortly after the restart and Tysiak inadvertently turned into her own net late on. The Blues sit seven points clear of second-place Arsenal before their meeting next weekend. Manchester City could overtake the Gunners, should they beat Manchester United later on Sunday. West Ham, this their heaviest defeat of the season, remain 10th, three points clear of bottom side Crystal Palace. Erin Cuthbert and Aggie Beever-Jones both scored in the first half Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor opted to make five changes to her team from the side that drew 1-1 at strugglers Leicester City before Christmas. Leaving Guro Reiten and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, who had scored 10 of the Blues' 30 WSL goals between them this season, on the bench would have been seen as a gamble by some. Those who did start allayed question marks almost instantly, flexing the array of attacking talent Chelsea have in their squad. The first four goals showed touches of class. An expert finish from Macario, on her first WSL start of the season, set a tone for what was to come and by the break, strikes from identical distances from Cuthbert and Beever-Jones put the sword to Rehanne Skinner's Hammers. Any hopes of a second-half fightback were quickly ended when Baltimore fired in from distance. Tysiak's inadvertent own goal was a further blow to West Ham's impressive form at home this season. Goal four signalled the changes from Bompastor with another London derby against title hopefuls Arsenal to come in a week's time. The Blues' French manager has utilised her star-studded squad perfectly so far, cruising in the league and yet to taste defeat since replacing Emma Hayes last summer. There were very few signs of the pre-Christmas blip against Leicester City. In this form, even if Chelsea's title rivals keep putting pressure on them, it would take an almighty decline to see them not win a sixth consecutive WSL title come May. After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Get the latest WSL news on our dedicated page Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 19th January 2025 at 16: 54 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Rehanne Skinner Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Manager: Sonia Bompastor Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Rehanne Skinner Formation: 5 - 3 - 2 Manager: Sonia Bompastor Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Women's Super League All competitions All competitions All competitions Match ends, West Ham United Women 0, Chelsea Women 5. Second Half ends, West Ham United Women 0, Chelsea Women 5. Attempt missed. Katrina Gorry (West Ham United Women) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the right. Foul by Maika Hamano (Chelsea Women). Amber Tysiak (West Ham United Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Fourth official has announced 4 minutes of added time. Attempt missed. Millie Bright (Chelsea Women) right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Maika Hamano with a cross following a corner. Corner, Chelsea Women. Conceded by Kirsty Smith. Attempt blocked. Lucy Bronze (Chelsea Women) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd. Katrina Gorry (West Ham United Women) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Oriane Jean-François (Chelsea Women) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Manuela Paví (West Ham United Women). Own Goal by Amber Tysiak, West Ham United Women. West Ham United Women 0, Chelsea Women 5. Corner, Chelsea Women. Conceded by Katrina Gorry. Attempt blocked. Viviane Asseyi (West Ham United Women) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Shekiera Martinez. Substitution, West Ham United Women. Manuela Paví replaces Seraina Piubel. Attempt missed. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (Chelsea Women) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Oriane Jean-François. Substitution, West Ham United Women. Shannon Cooke replaces Li Mengwen. Substitution, Chelsea Women. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd replaces Mayra Ramírez. Substitution, Chelsea Women. Ashley Lawrence replaces Niamh Charles. © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.