A new season, a new opposing manager, new signings, but the same old story: a Chelsea win. Only just, but a win is a win, especially in a tricky opening-night fixture, as Sonia Bompastor’s side embark on a quest for the club’s seventh consecutive Women’s Super League title.
It saw Andrée Jeglertz lose his first game in charge of Manchester City; Bompastor, by contrast, is still yet to lose a league fixture in English football and Chelsea remain unbeaten in the WSL since May 2024, a run of 26 league games.
On Friday night they displayed many of the characteristics that have helped them dominate the division in modern times, particularly their ruthlessness in the final third by comparison to their rivals.
Khadija Shaw lashed a rising drive narrowly over the crossbar with 11 minutes to go, but that was as close as it got to an equaliser for the team who finished fourth in the division last term. They had more bad news when Alex Greenwood and Lily Murphy sustained injuries in stoppage time.
Just under six weeks since the Euro 2025 final in Basel concluded a tournament which delivered packed stadiums and raucous crowds, it might have been a bit of a comedown for the players to walk out at Stamford Bridge and see the top tier of the stands essentially empty. Nonetheless, the Chelsea fans who did show up were enjoying what they saw, especially from one of their most important summer signings, Ellie Carpenter.
