Aggie Beever-Jones’s eighth goal of the season gave her side the lead inside the first two minutes at the Chigwell Construction Stadium in Dagenham, and Erin Cuthbert smashed in the second goal late in the game to make the three points safe, although our opponents will have gone in at half-time asking themselves how they had not scored as well.

Some bad misses, one goal ruled out by the officials, and the woodwork had prevented West Ham finding the Chelsea net, while we did not come close to adding to our lead during the rest of the first half.

Emma Hayes made plenty of changes early in the second half, one of them being Fran Kirby who came on for a landmark 200th Chelsea appearance.

We were tighter at the back after the interval and another substitute, Mayra Ramirez, hit the West Ham post while the strike from another of those players brought on, Cuthbert, proved unstoppable.

The home side, with fresher legs having played just twice in March, had given us a tough challenge throughout, and this can be classed as one of those ground-out victories that are always needed in a title challenge.

Ahead of this game, Chelsea were 10 places above the Hammers in the WSL table and following Saturday's win for Manchester City in the Manchester derby, knew there was no room for a slip-up in a tight title race that had six matches to go.

Early lead but under pressure

West Ham could have shocked the Blues and scored inside the first 20 seconds but Viviane Asseyi headed well wide. Instead, it was Chelsea ahead with only 72 seconds on the clock.

The move started at the back with Hannah Hampton, with the ball worked fluidly up the left flank for Lauren James to lay it back to Beever-Jones. The 20-year-old buried the ball with a first-time shot and we had the perfect start.

In an end-to-end beginning to the game, the Hammers were wasteful again when unmarked Kirsty Smith shot wide when very well-placed.

Beever-Jones was one of three changes as Hayes refreshed the side to a degree after naming the same starting 11 for the previous two matches. The forward could have had a second goal early in the game when allowed to run through, but West Ham goalie and captain Mackenzie Arnold took the ball off her feet.

The home side were then unfortunate to have a goal chalked off for offside when Honoka Hayashi put the ball into our net.

The pace of Beever-Jones on the left was proving an important attacking tool although from one of her crosses midway through the first half, James’s shot was tame.

The game emerged from a quiet spell when with 10 minutes to go before the interval, West Ham skimmed the Chelsea crossbar. Picking the ball up on halfway, their no.9 Riko Ueki tried her luck from well outside the penalty area and was only marginally off-target.

The story of the home side’s half continued when Asseyi blazed well wide having wrestled her way in behind Jess Carter.

More control and a Cuthbert thunderbolt

Hayes made a tweak at half-time with Rytting Kaneryd switching wings and Beever-Jones playing more centrally, from where she sent a header wide early in the second half.

Further changes were made 10 minutes in with Cuthbert and Catarina Macario introduced to the action. Before long fit-again Mayra Ramirez and Kirby were added too, with the forward line much refreshed.

Chelsea had stemmed the flow of West Ham chances and were playing most of the second half in the home side’s half, but could we add the insurance of a second goal?

Ramirez came agonisingly close when she shot across the face of the Hammers goal and watched it bounce back off the far post.

In the tale of two direct free-kicks, Macario’s was too high while Asseyi went a lot closer for West Ham, but the score remained 0-1.

That was until the 88th minute when a Macario corner was chested down by Cuthbert and struck sweetly into the roof of the net.

West Ham’s wait for a first league win over the Blues goes on. Our record against the Eastenders is now won 11 drawn 1.

What it means

The Blues’ lead over Man City in the Women’s Super League table is +2 on goal difference, with Arsenal six points behind. Chelsea and City have five games left to play.

What's next?

The concluding tie of Chelsea's quarter-final in the Champions League takes place on Wednesday at Stamford Bridge. The Blues go into the match 3-0 ahead of Ajax on aggregate.

Tickets for a big night of football under the lights are available

With a Conti Cup final and an FA Cup semi-final to come, and an international break, we do not play in the league again until Sunday 21 April when we host Aston Villa.

Chelsea Hampton; Lawrence, Carter, Buchanan, Charles (c); Cankovic (Cuthbert 55), Leupolz; Rytting Kaneryd (Reiten 82), Nusken (Macario 55), Beever-Jones (Ramirez 63); James (Kirby 63)
Unused subs Musovic, Perisset, Bjorn, Ingle
Scorers Beever-Jones 2, Cuthbert 88
Booked Leupolz 72

West Ham Arnold (c); Zadorsky, Tysiak, Denton (Cissoko 82), Smith, Gorry (Bergman Lundin 21), Hayashi, Shimizu, Ziu (Snerle 65), Asseyi (Harries 82), Ueki
Unused subs Walsh, Cooke, Ademiluyi, O'Hanlon
Booked Bergman Lundin 64

Referee Megan Wilson