The new season starts on Friday with Sonia Bompastor’s side chasing a seventh consecutive title but rivals have hope
A
fter a breathless summer that included heart-stopping penalty shootouts, a swath of managerial changes and even the women’s game’s first £1m transfer fee, as the new Women’s Super League season arrives, the million-dollar question is, can anyone stop Chelsea?
The defending champions have won six WSL titles in a row and they notched up a record points tally last term to win the championship by their largest margin yet – 12. Ominously for their rivals, they were trying to strengthen their squad even further during the final hours of the transfer window with the signing of the United States winger Alyssa Thompson from Angel City. Chelsea are, undeniably, the dominant force in the modern English women’s game and appear to be getting only stronger.
Sonia Bompastor’s side, who also won the FA Cup and League Cup to clinch a domestic treble in her first season in England, will begin their campaign at home to Manchester City on Friday, a fixture with a blockbuster feel at Stamford Bridge. A third of the teams in the top flight have changed managers and the visitors’ new head coach, the Swede Andrée Jeglertz, is hoping to transform the fortunes of a team that have not won the league since 2016.
