Sam Kerr's Chelsea days look numbered - but record-breaking striker still has time to add to her Blues legend

It's not been an easy year for Kerr, either. After suffering an ACL injury back in January 2024, it would take the striker much longer than anticipated to get back fit, as setbacks in an already complex rehab delayed her return again and again. It wasn't until the start of this season that she was back on the pitch, and even then it was important for Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor to be careful with her minutes after 21 months on the sidelines.

Kerr would have to wait a couple more months for her first start for the Blues, as she scored twice in a 6-0 Champions League win over St. Polten, and although she backed that up with some more big moments in the weeks that followed, with the winner against Wolfsburg in more European action and another goal against Manchester United in the FA Cup fifth round, she'd have to endure a spell out of the starting line-up, too, as Bompastor trialled the effectiveness of playing the likes of Lauren James and Alyssa Thompson more centrally.

March's Asian Cup, though, has been something of a catalyst for what may be Kerr's final season at Chelsea. Australia hosted the tournament, adding to the pressure on a Matildas team that hasn't won the title since 2010. Kerr, as the captain and star player, would shoulder a lot of that expectation.

Unfortunately, Australia couldn't deliver the trophy the home fans craved, losing a tight final by a 1-0 scoreline to a very good Japan team that should be a serious contender for next year's World Cup. However, it was still a very positive month for Kerr, who started all six of her nation's games, despite them coming in a spell of just 21 days.

Her fitness was clearly there, then, and her form was, too. Kerr scored four goals in that time, and provided one assist, with three of her strikes proving to be match-winners. She looked sharp while delivering decisive moments. It was to be food for thought for Bompastor as the 32-year-old prepared to return to England.

Since then, Kerr has started all five of Chelsea's games, scoring five goals and assisting in the only one in which she drew a blank. Such form helped her surpass Fran Kirby to become the Blues' all-time top-scorer in the WSL, and she is only three goals away from achieving that feat for all competitions, too.

It would be naive to suggest that Kerr is back to her absolute best, given how high that level is and how long players say it can take to feel like themselves again after an ACL injury, not least one with the complex recovery that Kerr endured. But she is offering plenty as the focal point of the Chelsea attack and providing a lot of what they have been missing all season long.

That's because while Kerr has been building back up to this sort of level, the squad has also had to deal with a lot of other injuries at centre-forward. Mayra Ramirez suffered a hamstring problem in pre-season that required surgery and is going to miss the entire campaign; Aggie Beever-Jones has been in and out of the squad due to issues with her ankle; and Catarina Macario had some knocks and niggles of her own, before leaving in March to join the San Diego Wave.

It's all made that experimentation with James and Thompson in centre-forward spaces necessary at times.

Kerr's slow and steady build-up to this point of being the go-to striker again is welcome, then, and especially as Chelsea look to end their season on a high. After all, this is a player who relishes the big moments, something her goal-scoring record at the club emphasises perfectly.

Prior to her injury, in 33 appearances against the rest of the WSL's 'Big Four' - Arsenal, Man City and Manchester United - Kerr scored 20 times. Her record in the Champions League, the highest-level of club competition in Europe and the world, reads 20 goals in 34 games. In the seven cup finals Kerr has played for the Blues, she has scored a remarkable 10 goals, to win five of them. When the pressure is on, she steps up.

This season's Asian Cup, and her winners in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of that competition, showed that while Kerr is still working her way back from such a long time out, she still has that ability to be decisive in tight moments. Her strike in the FA Cup clash with United back in February was another example of as much. We are talking about a big-game player.

And this weekend presents a big game. Chelsea's season has been tough, with them falling well short in their pursuit of a seventh successive WSL title and losing in the Champions League quarter-finals to London rivals Arsenal. But despite those setbacks, the Blues still managed to get their hands on the League Cup in March and they have a huge opportunity to add the FA Cup to that, playing the semi-final at home with the reward a trip to at Wembley, where they would be overwhelming favourites against a first-timer under the arch in either Liverpool or Brighton.

How fitting would it be, too, for Kerr's final game in Chelsea blue to come at Wembley? Speaking to reporters ahead of the 2023 FA Cup final, the Australia international picked it out as her favourite venue: "Every time I go there, it’s for a trophy. I never have to visit otherwise. I think that’s exactly it. It’s a big-game stadium. You don’t go there to play any other game other than for a trophy. I’ve never been there and not won a trophy."

Kerr, of course, backed that up days later by scoring the only goal as Chelsea beat Manchester United, earning Player of the Match honours as well as another winners' medal.

As her incredible Chelsea career seemingly draws to a close, there is an opportunity to sign off with another moment of that ilk. If she can fire the Blues back to Wembley, and have her say at the national stadium once more, it would be the perfect way to close an illustrious, unforgettable chapter for one of the game's greatest goal-scorers.