Chelsea kickstarted their European campaign with a comfortable victory over Paris FC. Alyssa Thompson scored her first goal in west London as Sonia Bompastor’s side dominated proceedings. Sandy Baltimore opened the scoring from the penalty spot while Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Erin Cuthbert also got on the scoresheet.
Chelsea had endured a frustrating start to their Champions League challenge, the only trophy to elude their grasp. A 1-1 draw against Twente last week in Enschede had added a bit of pressure on this encounter at Stamford Bridge with sterner opposition to come.
There was no reason for Chelsea not to be full of confidence ahead of this encounter. They had returned to winning ways against Tottenham at the weekend and remain unbeaten in all competitions. There has, however, been a trend of wasted opportunities that has been causing some consternation.
The lack of attacking cohesion has not been helped by Bompastor’s tinkering of personnel and systems. There were just two changes from the weekend with Baltimore returning from a knock and Sjoeke Nüsken replacing the missing Ellie Carpenter.
Paris FC had suffered an equally irritating opening to their league phase, surrendering a 2-0 lead to the newcomers OH Leuven. Sandrine Soubeyrand welcomed back the goalkeeper Mylène Chavas after a spell out with concussion while Maëlle Garbino and Anaële Le Moguédec came into the starting lineup.
