Chelsea manager Emma Hayes is taking a break from football to recover from an emergency operation.
The club announced on Thursday afternoon that Hayes had undergone a hysterectomy, and now needed “time and patience” to return to full health.
Paul Green and Denise Reddy will take over in the dugout at Everton on Sunday when the Women’s Super League resumes after an international break, and will continue in charge until the gaffer is well enough to return.
In a message to fans, Hayes said: “You’ve had to listen to me bellowing from the other side of the pitch every week... but now I want to hear you even louder because I’ll be sitting at home watching the team on the television until my return!”
Chelsea are laying on coaches to take away fans to matches... although it does mean early starts. In a bid to sidestep rail strikes and ease the soaring price of petrol, the club is arranging coach travel at 6am from the Kingsmeadow ground this Sunday for supporters travelling to the Everton match. It will be a long day. The coaches won’t be back until nearly 9pm.
The following Sunday’s early evening fixture at Brighton’s Broadfield stadium will also be served by club coaches.
Meanwhile, European action returns to Kingsmeadow, with a special buzz at the ground under the floodlights.
KFF Vllaznia are the visitors on Wednesday 26 October. They may not be the best-known women’s team in Europe, but they are the reigning Albanian champions – presenting fans with an intriguing logistical challenge for the away leg of the Women’s Champions League in the city of Shkoder a week before Christmas. Tickets for all Chelsea Women’s games start at as little as a quid.
It’s been a difficult week for the Blues’ mighty midfield atom Erin Cuthbert – player of the match in Chelsea’s last outing, the convincing victory against West Ham. Scotland failed to qualify for the Women’s World Cup after being beaten by the Republic of Ireland at Hampden Park.
The 24-year-old, who already has 55 caps for her country, was in tears at the end of the match, in which the home side had three-quarters of the possession, but will not now travel to next summer’s finals in Australia and New Zealand.
It’s a dent in the aim of continuing to grow the domestic game. While 11,000 fans turned up to watch the match in Glasgow, organisers had hoped for 20,000.
On the plus side, Cuthbert will now be exclusively focused on her Chelsea matches, and hopes to start at Walton Hall Park against Everton.
Mason Mount Magic
What a week it has been for Mason Mount. The Chelsea midfielder has done his chances of starting for the Three Lions at the upcoming World Cup no harm at all.
The 23-year-old has been instrumental in the Blues’ last two victories notching up three assists in those two games.
It all started at Wolves last weekend as Mount played an instrumental role in Graham Potter’s first home Premier League win since he took over the reins at Chelsea.
He found Kai Havertz in first half stoppage time with a lofty cross which the German international steered home with his head to open the scoring in the 3-0 win after a frustrating opening 45 minutes for the Blues in which Chelsea’s toothless attacks lacked any real cutting edge until that point.
Mount continued to make the difference in the second half when he gifted Christian Pulisic his first goal of the season after the American poster boy played a neat one-two with Mount to double Chelsea’s lead.
This was shortly followed by a warm farewell from the Stamford Bridge faithful for former Blues striker Diego Costa who had a frustrating afternoon on his return back to the Bridge in a Wolves shirt. Costa took the long way back to the bench when he was substituted, around the pitch, to soak up the love and affection from the home crowd.
There were more firsts before the final whistle as Armando Broja scored his first senior goal for Chelsea rifling a shot past Wolves keeper Jose Sa in the 89th minute.
The Mason Mount show continued over in Milan this week as he won a penalty against former teammate Fikayo Tomori to break the deadlock, which Jorginho nonchalantly scored, as Tomori went in for an early shower after being sent off. After watching back the replays, the referee’s decision did seem rather harsh.
Mount then set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who slotted the ball past AC Milan stopper Ciprian Tatarusanu to secure the 2-0 win over AC Milan and top spot in the group.
Can Mount continue his fine form at Villa Park this weekend as the Blues go up against Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa? And will the Liverpool legend slip up against the Blues again?
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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