Lauren James scored a hat-trick as Chelsea eased to an emphatic 5-1 victory over Liverpool to move six points clear at the top of the Super League table.

It was a showstopping performance from James, whose first-half opener and second-half brace derailed the Reds’ attempts to take points from the league leaders.

Liverpool clawed one back in the first half via Jess Carter’s own goal, but Aggie Beever-Jones – scoring her fourth in four consecutive games – cancelled out the visitors’ short-lived equaliser.

Sjoeke Nusken netted a fifth from close range with 12 minutes remaining to add the gloss for Chelsea.

Facing their third game in seven days, the sharp turnaround had little effect on Chelsea as one-way traffic ensued with the hosts firmly pulling the strings from kick-off.

Sophie Ingle marked her record-breaking 184th WSL appearance with a glorious through ball to find James, whose stellar footwork foiled Gemma Bonner and she powerfully fired the opener into the bottom-right corner.

Yet within a minute of play restarting, Liverpool had pulled one back as a scramble in the box resulted in Carter bundling the ball into her own net after the Chelsea defence allowed an unrivalled Shanice Van De Sanden to dart into the box.

With Chelsea still firmly on the front foot, James sent a pinpoint cross in to find super-substitute turned super-starter Beever-Jones, who marked her first start this season with a stunning nod into the back of the net.

Chelsea’s left flank demonstrated their mesmeric cohesion, causing repeated problems for their opponents, with the fruitful link-up of former Liverpool defender Niamh Charles and James peppering holes in the visitors’ defence.

A nifty deflection nearly resulted in another for Chelsea, with Sam Kerr lingering too close to Reds goalkeeper Rachael Laws and – fortunately for Matt Beard’s side – the deflection fell just wide of the near post.

Little could be done for lacklustre Liverpool to inspire a thrilling comeback as the visitors squandered a flurry of chances before Chelsea added three to their total, displaying pure, unadulterated dominance.

After being teed up by Kerr, James rifled home a trademark shot across the face of the goal before celebrating her treble eight minutes later, despite clattering into Nusken in the process.

Germany midfielder Nusken got her name on the scoresheet as she slotted the ball home from close range after a well-worked cut-back from substitute Johanna Rytting Kaneryd to seal maximum points.