Chelsea start WSL title campaign with 2-1 win over City
Sonia Bompastor's side showcased attacking depth in opening night victory
Chelsea kicked off their WSL title defence with a 2-1 win against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Friday night.
Goals from Aggie Beever-Jones and Maika Hamano were enough for Sonia Bompastor’s side to take all three points in the opening game of the new season.
An own goal from Niamh Charles added some tension to the last 20 minutes of this clash but in the end it was more of the same from last season’s invincibles.
The WSL fixture gods didn’t mess about with this scheduling and there was no start of season sluggishness under the lights in west London. The game flowed with speed and intensity, partly fuelled by the power of new Chelsea right-back Ellie Carpenter.
The Australian caused all sorts of problems for City left-back Alex Greenwood and it was a bulldozing run in the 31st minute that created the opener for Beever-Jones.
Carpenter received the ball around 35 yards from goal on the right side, she charged towards the touchline and placed the perfect pass for Chelsea’s striker to slot home.
Given this was City’s first game under new Swedish coach Andree Jeglertz, and they were playing away from home, it’s hard to judge too much on their first outing in this somewhat new era. There were some new and old faces in the starting line up as Jade Rose and Sydney Lohmann made their league debuts, while youngsters Gracie Prior and Lily Murphy were given the nod after showing lots of promise last season.
City unsurprisingly enjoyed little possession, having just 39% in the first half, and they relied on set-piece opportunities. Greenwood came close with a free-kick that hit the bar in the first half. Bunny Shaw’s best chance came from a long ball over the top that she couldn’t steer past a confident and in-form Hampton.
City came out with energy at the start of the second half but they couldn’t convert a good 15-minute spell of pressure into an equaliser. Chelsea then got their second, again Carpenter was involved, this time Wieke Kaptein supplied for Hamano to finish.
There was a brief moment of hope for City when Charles headed in from Greenwood’s free kick, but they couldn’t follow up that own goal with any more attacking threat and in the end it’s another defeat to their long-running rival.
Jeglertz will be concerned about injuries to Greenwood and Murphy after both players were forced to leave the pitch in stoppage time. Murphy looked visibly upset and was carried off on a stretcher with minutes to go. Injuries have been a long-running issue for City and the new coach will be hoping some of that bad luck hasn’t carried through to this campaign.
What defined Chelsea’s match
Chelsea’s back three experiment. Anyone who watched Chelsea last season would have seen and heard about Bompastor’s desire to play three at the back. It’s something she was unable to do for large parts of the 2024-25 campaign, but we saw snippets of it in a handful of games. This season, she’s started off with a bang, deploying it in this opening match against City.
The back three consisted of Niamh Charles, Millie Bright and Nathalie Bjorn with Sandy Baltimore at left-wing back and Carpenter at right-wing back.
Both Bright and Bjorn dealt fairly well with the imposing Shaw, apart from when she turned them inside out for her best chance of the game that Hampton saved. Having both Baltimore and Carpenter so high up the pitch has its clear advantages.
The heat map below shows how much joy Carpenter had deep in City’s half. A mazy run in the 61st minute personified the aggressive attacking mindset she has. Carpenter intercepted the ball, charged towards goal but eventually lost control before she could shoot. Having the additional defensive cover of Bjorn and Bright will only allow her to push higher.
Carpenter also played a part in Chelsea’s second goal, albeit it wasn’t an assist. Her forward pass to substitute Catarina Macario was one of the four key moves in the build up to Maika Hamano’s finish.
Bompastor likes to push her full-backs high so playing a back three, especially in these title-rival fixtures, is a sensible option.
What defined City’s match
Alex Greenwood’s struggles defending the wing. Both of Chelsea’s goals came from down the defensive left side for City. Both saw Greenwood beaten in one-on-one situations.
Greenwood is a remarkable player but not blessed for pace. For Chelsea’s opener, aggressive wing-back play from Carpenter saw the Australian blaze by Greenwood and open up a passing lane to find Beever-Jones. It was a matchup that throughout the game favoured the brightly hairbanded Chelsea defender. At times, it felt like Chelsea were targeting that side.
For Chelsea’s second, Greenwood failed to read Catarina Macario’s quick give-and-go with Kaptein, thus allowing Dutchwoman and extra yard to sprint away and pick out the key pass across the face of goal to assist Hamano.
With so much of Chelsea’s threat coming down the wings with Baltimore and Carpenter, this was always going to be a stern test for City’s full-backs.
Of course, the blame doesn’t solely lie with the Lioness. City debutant Rose did not cover herself in glory when she allowed Hamano to ghost through unmarked in the 64th minute to score what was effectively the match-winner. Big defensive lapses cost City on opening night.
A disappointing defensive night got even worse when Greenwood came off with an injury in second half stoppage time. The defender pulled up, kicked the ball out of play, sat down on the grass and proceeded to remove her captain’s armband while shaking her head.
Something you might have missed
Chelsea’s missing stars. Perhaps you don’t need this to be pointed out but it does bear repeating. While in many ways Chelsea would have always been expected to win this match at home, this was an impressive victory because of the sheer amount of top players this handicapped Chelsea team were missing on Friday night.
At Stamford Bridge, it was easy to spot this illustrious cohort of injured players huddled up a few rows in front of the press box. There they were, as giddy as anyone for the start of the new season, observing the scene and cheering on their teammates: Lucy Bronze, Naomi Girma, Kadeisha Buchanan, and Lauren James.
Incredibly, not sitting with that crew were Mayra Ramirez, who just underwent hamstring surgery, and new signing Alyssa Thompson, who was paraded in front of the fans before kick-off but watched the match at Stamford Bridge seated elsewhere.
Those six players that looked on tonight would walk into any team in the WSL. It’s yet another reminder of Chelsea’s imperious strength in depth, and just how different things may look a few months from now.
What next
On matchweek two of the WSL, Chelsea will head off to the west midlands to take on Aston Villa. Manchester City will be hoping to secure their first points of the nascent season at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.
New signing Thompson was welcomed at Stamford Bridge before kick off but did not feature in the game. Fans will be eagerly awaiting her debut. The same goes for Grace Clinton who wasn’t signed in time to feature for City. Next week's game against Brighton will be her debut.