Erin Cuthbert interview: Captaincy ambitions and why she wants to 'forget' last season
The Chelsea midfielder speaks exclusively to The Cutback about a season below her standards and a renewed energy for 2026-27
Erin Cuthbert is one of the straightest talkers in football.
The Chelsea and Scotland midfielder wears her heart on her sleeve and always delivers honest assessments of her own performance, so it’s no surprise that the first word she uses to describe her 2025-26 season is “crap”.
“I think I had five or six good games,” Cuthbert told The Cutback. “Maybe I’m doing myself a bit of injustice, but that’s how I feel in my head. I’m quite a harsh critic. I don’t know why I couldn’t find that level. Maybe I started overthinking it and really sort of struggled near the tail end of the season to find that form again.”
Chelsea’s 2025-26 season featured more lows than highs, and Cuthbert’s side ultimately ended up with just one trophy, the League Cup. Even so, plenty of clubs and plenty of players would be delighted to lift a trophy. I asked Cuthbert to expand on what “crap” means in her world.
“I didn’t have enough impact on games. I didn’t influence the game in the way that I wanted to. And I say crap because that’s how I evaluate my performance. It wasn’t based on anything that anybody else is saying.
“Obviously you’ve got coaches, fans, everything, pundits, everyone talking. But you know when you’ve had good games and bad games. I think you know deep down if you’ve done well and you’ve had a good season or not.
“And yeah, we could say it’s crap. Of course, there were some good moments and I had some really good performances in some games, but overall, [last season] is one that I want to forget. I just don’t know how I didn’t find that level, but it wasn’t through the lack of trying. But it just makes me more hungry this year.”
Cuthbert’s directness is stark, but something that I’ve come to expect from one of the WSL’s best communicators. The 28-year-old admits that she struggled last season, as the pressure of searching for her A-game took its toll.
“I feel that once you lose it, it’s really hard to get back. And I tried so hard, but maybe there’s a point where you think: What more do I need to be doing? More video? More analysis? And as soon as you start doing that, you start overthinking it.”
I asked Cuthbert what she might change this season in a bid to find form.
“Maybe just taking the shackles off a bit this season, trying to play with a bit more freedom and being more expressive.”
Cuthbert has been at Chelsea for nearly 10 years, and the club’s third-placed finish in last season’s WSL was the worst she’s experienced since the club suffered the same fate back in 2018-19, Arsenal’s last WSL triumph.
When trying to unpack what went wrong for Sonia Bompastor’s side last season, off the back of an unbeaten 2024-25 campaign, Cuthbert says complacency could have been a factor.
“I think we were a wee bit spoiled in the years that we won the league every year because we almost got used to that and that became the norm. But it’s actually not normal.
“The league is really improving, and we have to improve with it. We have to step up this season, and it’s going to take everyone getting 1% or 2% better, and the team to get 40% better.”
Cuthbert says that being back with Chelsea for pre-season has felt like a “fresh start” for the whole team, with a “new energy” around their Cobham training ground. It’s much needed after last season’s disappointment on the pitch was coupled with the controversial departure of the club’s longstanding head of women’s football, Paul Green.
Green was responsible for bringing Cuthbert to the club, along with several of Chelsea’s recent high-profile departures. Sam Kerr and Guro Reiten both joined Gotham in the NWSL, while former club captain Millie Bright retired at the end of last season.
Cuthbert was close with those players and has noticed their absence, but says the new faces at Chelsea – Melvine Malard, Manaka Matsukubo and Katie McCabe, among others – “won’t notice any difference”.
She added: “It’s different, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad.”
This coming season needs to bring a reset for Chelsea and Bompastor, who was rewarded for her debut unbeaten campaign with a new long-term contract in February.
Chelsea’s pre-season has also been extended thanks to the lack of a major women’s football tournament, giving players a significantly longer break after the domestic season. Cuthbert spent some of hers watching Scotland at the 2026 World Cup, before returning to Cobham early to rehab a knee injury picked up in Scotland’s penultimate Women’s World Cup qualifier in June.
Cuthbert’s injury didn’t require surgery, but she was on crutches as part of her recovery. She explains that the prolonged recovery period, which saw a delay to her returning to full training, has been about rebuilding the muscle that she lost.
“I’ve been building muscle all summer, building fitness, building a bit of strength and robustness, and having a bit of time to look after some of the things that maybe you don’t get to look after during the season. So hopefully, when I’m fit, I stay fit.”
As one of Chelsea’s longest-serving players, Cuthbert is a key leader within the group, something she relishes. Since joining in 2017, she’s won seven WSL titles, five FA Cups and four league cups.
“I enjoy that part of it,” she says. “I think if I didn’t have that, it would take a big part of me away, so I definitely enjoy the added responsibility.
“I want it, but I also know that I want it in the right sort of environment. And I know with the girls here, there’s so many leaders in the dressing room. You look at all the Lionesses that have won so many trophies – as much as it pains me saying that – you’ve got international captains. So I think this year it’s certainly good that we’ve got so many people that are willing to have a voice in the dressing room.
“I enjoy it. I feel like I thrive under pressure. I’m a player who likes to play on the edge.”
Chelsea’s choice of captain this season hasn’t yet been communicated to the squad, but Cuthbert certainly will be in the running to replace Bright. In Chelsea’s series of pre-season games in Australia and New Zealand, Lucy Bronze and Kadeisha Buchanan shared armband duties. However, Cuthbert acknowledges that she will respect Bompastor’s decision whatever the outcome.
“Whenever I wear [the armband], I’m buzzing about it. It’s a big responsibility, something I’m very proud of. Nothing that I had imagined little Erin would be doing when she signed for Chelsea 10 years ago.
“It just shows how far I’ve come at this club, and if Sonia sees me in that [role], then great. But if not, then I know that I don’t act any different. There’s so many other people capable of doing it as well. But I know that I’ll be the same with or without the armband.”