Lauren James scored twice and Sam Kerr became a record breaker as Chelsea won at struggling Leicester City to confirm their place in next season's Women's Champions League.

The second-placed Blues were dominant from the start and took a 13th-minute lead when Niamh Charles dinked a cross into the box, which Australian Kerr headed in at the back post.

Her goal was a 64th in the Women's Super League, surpassing Fran Kirby for the most by any Chelsea player in the competition.

With bottom club Leicester putting up a pedestrian display at the back, Chelsea doubled their lead in the 27th minute when James produced a bit of her trademark brilliance, whipping a no-look effort into the far corner from the edge of the area.

The England forward added a second six minutes later with a free-kick from just outside the box, chipping the ball over the wall and it went in off the underside of the crossbar.

Leicester, whose spot in a relegation play-off was confirmed by their 7-0 defeat at Arsenal in midweek, managed to score just their 11th goal of the campaign when Shannon O'Brien tucked an effort past Livia Peng after Lucy Bronze's poor backpass.

Scoring boosted the confidence of the Foxes at the King Power Stadium, but they were unable to find a way to reduce Chelsea's lead any further.

Changes made by Sonia Bompastor, including James and likely with an eye on next Sunday's Women's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City (15:30 BST), led to the visitors producing less fluid football in the second half, but they remained firmly in control.

Although unable to win the league with one game left, a six-point gap to fourth-placed Manchester United, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton on Saturday, sealed a place in Europe again next season.

With Manchester United dropping points against Brighton, Chelsea needed just a draw at Leicester to ensure they would join the elite of women's football again.

But they had a clear mindset on Sunday of achieving their objective in style with a confident first-half display.

They subjected the Foxes to wave after wave of attacks, knocking the ball about intricately in the final third and weaving triangles through the home backline.

While the second-half changes disrupted them and their quality deteriorated, the victory was never in doubt against a Leicester side who have struggled for goals and conceded 51 in the league this season.

There were a number of positives for the Foxes, though, in defeat and their performance after going 3-0 down should offer hope as they prepare for a relegation/promotion play-off against WSL 2's third-placed side Charlton Athletic.

Teenage goalkeeper Katie Keane, making her first start for the club, produced some fine stops to follow up her impressive display after coming on as a substitute in the heavy midweek loss at Arsenal.

After O'Brien claimed her fifth WSL goal, with Leicester having only scored 11 this term, the hosts could not trouble Chelsea keeper Peng further and their key forward was also forced off with a head injury.

They did, though, produce some nice counter-attacking moves and moved the ball about with freedom.

Boss Rick Passmoor will now hope to get his side in the right shape and frame of mind for their crucial play-off to stay in the top flight.

Leicester have a week off before travelling to Everton for their final WSL game of the season on Saturday, 16 May, when all the games kick off at 13:00 BST.

Chelsea face Manchester City next in the Women's FA Cup semi-final on Sunday, 10 May (15:30 BST), before they host Manchester United on the WSL's final day.

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