Johanna Rytting Kaneryd believes her first goal against Tottenham, a perfectly hit first-time volley, was the best of her career so far.
With 70 minutes on the clock, Kaneryd met Millie Bright’s cross with a jumping volley, her shot flying across goal beyond the helpless goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer.
That goal took the score to 3-1, with Chelsea eventually running out 5-2 victors over their cross-town rivals.
Speaking at full-time, Kaneryd said: “The first goal was probably the nicest I have scored so far in my career so I am very happy about that.”
She was just as happy with her second goal, a solo effort finished with an emphatic left-footed strike.
“The second one with my left is something I have been working on, and it still works so I will keep on doing that,” she laughed.
While the final scoreline eventually read heavily in Chelsea’s favour, the first half was a very even affair. Chelsea struggled to settle into the match, making a swath of errors in possession as they sweated under heavy pressure from Tottenham.
For Kaneryd, it was manager Sonia Bompastor’s halftime pep talk which helped Chelsea find their way.
Asked what Bompastor highlighted as the key issue, she said “Definitely the intensity, it is something we have been struggling with this season.
When they scored on us we lost a bit of confidence, and tonight I think we didn’t. It was all about finding the best rhythm in the game, when to go high, when to be lower, I think we did good in second half. We felt confident, really chasing another goal.”
With the international break now looming, she is not overly stressed about Chelsea’s form. Still undefeated both domestically and continentally this season, she believes the team will be ready to continue after some time apart.
“It is always a challenge coming back from the internationals, there is not a lot of training together before there is a game, so for us it is about preparing. I mean I am not thinking too much about that now, I will focus fully on the internationals first, but then I feel really confident in the team right now and we have a really good feeling so I’m not thinking too much about it.”
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