Leicester 0-4 Chelsea: Catarina Macario's come-from-behind goal lifts Chelsea to the top of the WSL

Catarina Macario returned to the top of the Women's Super League after a 20-month injury absence and scored on her debut for Chelsea as the Blues beat Leicester 4-0 and returned to the top of the Women's Super League.

Mayra Ramirez also scored her first WSL goal with a stunning solo goal after Nathalie Bjorn's opener.

Joanna Ritting-Canellid scored three goals for Emma Hayes' side, with substitute Macario firing a shot past Lise Kopp.

Chelsea's bid to win a fifth consecutive WSL trophy suffered a blow last month when they lost to their closest title rivals City.

City's 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday briefly cost them top spot.

However, Chelsea's victory over Leicester meant they were level on points with Gareth Taylor's side, but the Blues were at the top on goal difference.

The two teams will meet again in the Continental League Cup semi-finals on Thursday to test their qualification for the title.

Meanwhile, Leicester remain in 7th place with 16 points.

Macario scores after 641 days out injured

Guro Leiten came close to giving the visitors the lead after just 30 seconds, but they were unable to get the ball away from their feet and shoot from close range.

Despite Chelsea's quick start, it was Leicester who dominated the first 30 minutes, patiently building possession with Jutta Rantala providing the main threat up front.

But Leicester's era of dominance came to an abrupt end. Taking advantage of Bjorn's failure to clear a corner, Bjorn broke the deadlock, hooked the ball behind him and sent it over Kop and Josie Green on the goal line.

Ramirez also took advantage of Leicester's defensive error and pickpocketed Julie Thibault on the halfway line before stepping forward and effortlessly past the Kop to score Chelsea's second goal.

Colombian national forward is Britain's most expensive female player in history Chelsea signed her from Levante in January for a deposit of €450,000 (about £384,000).

Leicester continued to push forward in search of a goal, but were again out of the park when Jelena Kankovic found Ritting Canelid in acres of space and the Sweden international's shot was deflected by Janis Cayman and into the goal. I was caught up in the center.

But it was this fourth and final goal that grabbed the headlines, with Macario scoring both his debut and return from injury with a composed goal just five minutes after coming on for Ramirez.

The U.S. national team forward was greeted with a long hug from Coach Hayes after the final whistle.

With star striker Sam Kerr out for the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, Ramirez and Macario could be key to Chelsea's title bid.