Chelsea Women 3-0 Aston Villa Women: Maika Hamano scores first Blues goal as Emma Hayes' side return top of WSL

Chelsea put a difficult few weeks behind them to leapfrog Man City at the top of the WSL after a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Wednesday night.

On March 31, the Blues lost to Arsenal in the Conti Cup final and, on Sunday, were knocked out of the FA Cup semi-finals by Manchester United, too.

They were handed a huge early advantage as they looked to continue their quest for a fifth straight league title, when Villa goalkeeper Anna Leat was shown a straight red card for handling the ball outside the box.

Aggie Beever-Jones then put Emma Hayes' side in front and Maika Hamano doubled the lead before the break, with Kadeisha Buchanan adding the gloss just after the hour.

Chelsea's fourth straight WSL win sees them return top, level on points with City, but with a superior goal difference. Aston Villa stay seventh.

Dreams of a fairy-tale farewell for Emma Hayes were starting to dwindle after the two aforementioned cup exits.

But it was clear the footballing gods were looking kindly upon them at Kingsmeadow as, before the game had even settled into any sort of rhythm, Aston Villa were down to 10 players.

Sjoeke Nusken seized on a loose pass from Rachel Corsie and, after spotting Leat off her line, tried a shot from 30 yards. It went wide, but only after Leat had managed to get a touch on the ball outside the area, leaving referee Mel Burgin with no option but to dismiss her.

Villa dealt with the disadvantage reasonably well to begin with, but found themselves behind when Beever-Jones got on the end of Niamh Charles' cross and hooked a shot under replacement 'keeper Sophia Poor for her seventh WSL goal of the season.

It was two after 38 minutes, when Ashley Lawrence got the better of Rachel Daly on the right-hand side of the box and sent in