Author: Isla Smith

Categories
WSL

Everton victorious against Chelsea in Sonia Bompastor’s first league defeat in the WSL

Via @chelseaFCW on twitter
Via @chelseaFCW on twitter

Chelsea FC:

Starting XI: Peng (GK), Carpenter, Girma, Bronze, Baltimore, Walsh ©, Hamano, James, Thompson, Macario, Beever-Jones

Subs: Sam Kerr (56’), Sjoeke Nusken (56’), Rytting-Kaneryd (65’), Wieke Kaptein (75’)

Everton:

Starting XI: Brosnan (GK)(C), Kitagawa, Fernandez, Mace, Ishikawa, Momiki, Payne, Vignola, Gago

Subs: Karen Holmgaard (56’)

Chelsea FC looked to extend their unbeaten streak in the league this Sunday with their final home game of the year taking place against Everton. The Merseyside team sat in tenth place going into the match, having picked up just five points in the league, a stark contrast to Chelsea’s 21.

It goes without question that Chelsea have seemed to hit a sore run of form as of late with a draw against both Liverpool and Arsenal, and with midfield staple, Erin Cuthbert out on concussion protocol, would they be able to get back to their winning ways and avoid a third consecutive draw?

Chelsea took kick off through Aggie Beever-Jones with a dominant spell of posession, proving threatening from the off. With five minutes played, Everton had failed to make an impression outside of their own half.

In the sixth minute, it looked like Catarina Macario had found the opener, the ball gliding across the goal line but hitting the far post in the final moment.

With Lauren James earning her first start of the season, Chelsea’s speed on either wing proved an issue for Everton’s backline with their defence often looking leaky.

However in the 11th minute, Honoka Hayashi opened the scoring, Chelsea’s defence failing to communicate in the counter attack, leaving an open goal for the visitors.

Just five minutes later, Everton looked through on goal once again, this time at the feet of Hiraku Kitagawa however, the shot was put well wide of the goal.

In the 21st minute, Lauren James pinged the ball across to Ellie Carpenter, the right back earning a corner as a result. However with suspected foul play from a blues player in the box, Everton earned themselves a freekick.

At the half way point, Chelsea had earned themselves several more chances in the attacking third however failed to create a final product.

In the 32nd minute Maika Hamano dispossed Everton’s Vignola, giving Alyssa Thompson a clear run on goal. The resulting ball was however kept out by Courtney Brosnan once again.

Minute 36 saw yet another ball from Sandy Baltimore sore past Chelsea’s attack, another chance lost.

In the dying stages of the first half, Alyssa Thompson’s counter attack led to a corner for Chelsea, and with Kitagawa recieiving treatment, Chelsea had the chance to pull one back. Everton’s backline however, proved their solidity, clearing the ball from the off.

With five minutes of injury time added, Chelsea had a lot of work to do to even the playing field ahead of the second half.

Zero changes were made ahead of the second half, both teams keeping the same XI as kick off.

Chelsea once again looked threatening in the opening stages of the second half, dominating in possession and persistently pushing through on goal.

In the 56th minute, Lauren James and Catarina Macario were replaced by Sam Kerr and Sjoeke Nusken, as well as Clare Wheeler making way for Karen Holmgaard.

With 30 minutes on the clock, Ellie Carpenter shot from range, the ball going pelting over the goal and out of the stadium. 

Another chance came in the 62nd minute, Sam Kerr’s header proving just too strong to curve back in on goal.

In the 65th minute, another change in Chelsea’s attack meant that Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd was replacing Aggie Beever-Jones on the wing.

Just a minute later, Everton made a triple substitution, Toni Payne and Ornella Vignola and Yuka Momiki being replaced by Katie Robinson, Rosa van Gool and Katja Snoeijs.

A relatively quiet ten minutes saw Wieke Kaptein replace Maika Hamano in midfield in the 75th minute.

Chelsea saw several more opportunities within the attacking third in the latter stages of the second half, however just couldn’t seem to find the finishing product.

Minute 84 saw the final change of the game, young gun Issy Hobson replace Hikaru Kitagawa. 

With five minutes of injury time added, Chelsea pushed for the leveller, however with yet another injury in Everton’s defence, time was running out.

It looked as though Chelsea had completed their mission in the 92nd minute with the ball looking to cross the line before Brosnan got a glove to it in the final moment.

With Lucy Bronze and Sandy Baltimore standing over the ball for the final set piece of the game, the team looked set to find the equaliser however, the ball hit the post, Chelsea failing to score for the first time this season.

Full time saw Chelsea fail to pick up a point for the first time this season, a worrying display for the blues at home. The toffee’s on the other hand earned just their second win in the league this season, and their first win against Chelsea since 2020.

Categories
International Lionesses

“I make decisions to win”; Sarina Wiegman releases final Lionesses squad of the year

Sarina Wiegman announced a 25 player squad for the final international camp of the year today with a few faces returning to the camp for the first time since the euros. In other news Freya Godfrey earns her maiden lionesses squad, making the step up from the under-23’s for the first time.

Firstly, she spoke on Mary Earps’ autobiography saying: “She’s retired now, and we had incredible times and I always cherished that, and I’ve really enjoyed that… I make decisions to win … we have two incredible people in the goalkeeper group… overtime the competition has been really really hard, we had a very good goal keeper unit and the two goal keepers were competing for the number one spot.”

Following this, she was asked about Ellie Roebuck and how close to returning to the squad the keeper is, to this she said “‘We have a group of goal keepers we keep a close eye on… she is a little bit further way.”

Freya Godfrey earned her first senior lionesses call up this camp, Wiegman spoke highly of her saying “She’s done well, at the beginning of the season she was injured but I think she came back very well… she’s a young player that can bring something different to the squad.”

One key player kept out of the squad was Lauren James, although the forward only came back from her injury last week, she was a name people expected to see within the squad.

To this, Sarina said “She’s moving forward well… I think she just needs a little more time to get to full fitness… I don’t want to take any risks.”

In other news, Lauren Hemp is back in the squad for the first time since the Lionesses Euro winning campaign, Wigwam spoke on her recent form and how much of a key player the forward is within the squad saying “first of all, it’s really nice for her, I think she really enjoyed herself at the weekend, we could all see that she had a good performance and of course she is an important player for us… and we are very happy to have her back.”

Last time out, Michelle Agyemang suffered an ACL injury whilst playing Spain and since then Katie Reid has suffered the same injury, one that’s becoming far too common in Women’s football. Wiegman was asked whether she thinks it’s an issue within the amount of football young players are playing compared to seasons prior, to this she said, “its a very hard question for me to answer because I’m not in that environment, I think everyone who’s in the women’s game and at that level is trying to make it better for the players… I think the gap to international football is a big one, one we need to close… as always, you want to improve academies to get prepared, to get good level games and to get the programming right, but i think everyone in our environment is working on that to improve it

Leah Williamson is missing out on camp through injury, along with Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter meaning England’s defence is likely to have a new, youthful look this window, something that may be a concern to some but Sarina expressed her confidence saying “It always gives an opportunity to other players to step up, players play at a high level at their club so their experience… so i think there’s a lot of experience players have so they’re used to that… it’s absolutely an opportunity to step up and show where the players are more in the squad now.”

She followed this by saying “Lucy is leading, Keira is leading, Alessia has a lot of experience now so she is leading now also up front, Lauren Hemp, she’s not necessarily an old player but she has a lot of experiences”

Finally, England’s world cup qualifying draw was revealed last week, with the lionesses drawing Iceland, Spain and Ukraine, upon being asked what she thought of the draw, Wiegman said “i think it’s an exciting draw again, of course we are always stuck with Spain, but we haven’t played Ukraine and Iceland so im excited about that, the different opponents.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Sophie Baggaley, Khiara Keating, Anna Moorhouse

Defenders: Lucy Bronze, Niamh Charles, Anouk Denton, Grace Fisk, Taylor Hinds, Maya Le Tissier, Esme Morgan, Lotte Wubben-Moy

Midfielders: Laura Blinkilde-Brown, Grace Clinton, Missy Bo Kearns, Lucia Kendall, Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone, Keira Walsh
Forwards: Aggie Beever-Jones, Freya Godfrey, Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, Beth Mead, Jess Park, Alessia Russo

Categories
WSL

Chelsea claim victory in 1-0 win over Leicester City

Chelsea FC:

Starting XI: Hampton (GK), Carpenter, Bright ©, Buurman, Cuthbert, Macario, Bjorn, Baltimore, Kaptein, Walsh, Beever-Jones

Subs: Hamano (46’) Thompson (46’) Kerr (69’) Reiten (87′) Rytting Kaneryd (87′)

Leicester City:

Starting XI: Leitzig (GK), Tierney, van Egmond, Boureille, Cayman ©, Ale, Eiriksdottir, Payne, Thibaud, Cain, McLoughlin

Subs: Rantala (76′), Ayane (84′)

Chelsea fc looked to extend their 18 month domestic unbeaten streak this weekend against Leicester City in an exciting WSL clash. Last season saw Chelsea victorious at home with a 3-1 win at Kingsmeadow. However, during the return fixture, Chelsea trailed 1-0 for almost 60 minutes proving the uncertainty of this match up.

Chelsea kicked off dominating with possession however struggled to leave their own half for much of the opening moments.

The first real threat of the game came in the fourth minute where Leicester City won a free kick in the attacking third. This met the boots of Hannah Cain however she struggled to make a shot from it.

Soon after, a promising ball from Baltimore met Kaptein on the wing but was flagged offside before the Dutch international could progress.

In the seventh minute, Chelsea’s Aggie Beever-Jones found the opener, a pass from Erin Cuthbert finding the striker’s feet allowing her to lob Janina Leitzig from within the box.

By the 15th minute mark, Beever-Jones had broken loose again, crossing the ball to Ellie Carpenter on the far side who shot the ball directly into Leitzig’s arms.

Minutes later, Erin Cuthbert took a shot from outside the box prompting an impressive save from Leitzig leading to the ball going out for a corner. This was taken short and thus led to nothing.

Chelsea’s counter attack proved dangerous with Carpenter beating the Leicester defence, crossing the ball to Sandy Baltimore in the box who unfortunately hand balled it in the box.

Aggie Beever-Jones’ silky turn met the boots of Erin Cuthbert who shot forced yet another impressive save from the Leicester goal keeper.

Ten minutes before half time, Emily van Egmond earned the first yellow of the game for a nasty foul on Erin Cuthbert that had potential to be a red.

This was followed by a yellow card awarded to Erin Cuthbert who was shoved into Asmita Ale by Heather Payne, opening questions as to why the card was awarded.

A foul from Millie Bright led to a free kick for Leicester in dangerous territory. This was cleared by Aggie Beever-Jones despite the offside flag being raised.

Catarina Macario won the ball moments before half time, breaking through the foxes defence but the ball went straight to the hands of Janina Leitzig once more. 

With a minute on the clock, Sandy Baltimore earnt a sneaky corner which was taken by Macario in the dying stages. The attacker crossed the ball straight into the path of Leicester’s defence, which bounced to the boots of Sandy Baltimore once again, the French international shot again and the ball went out for another corner. Keira Walsh shot what looked to be a screamer but Leitzig tipped it over the bar meaning the half time score was 1-0.

As Leicester City kicked off the second half, Maika Hamano and Alyssa Thompson entered the field in place of Catarina Macario and Sandy Baltimore, a home debut for Thompson.

Leicester proved promising in the opening stages of the second half with two set piece opportunities, both of which led to nothing.

Ten minutes into the second half, Chelsea found their rhythm again, having several shots in a short span of time, including an eerily close shot causing Leitzig into yet another impressive save.

Moments later Erin Cuthbert went down injured, requiring medical attention before returning to the field of play minutes later.

Julie Thibaud showed her talent once more, sliding between the Chelsea defence before sending the ball wide from within the box.

Soon after, Wieke Kaptein broke free in the midfield in the 63rd minute before being taken down by Eiriksdottir, prompting a free kick which was hit directly into the path of the foxes defence thus being cleared up field.

Asmita Ale proved threatening on the attack, sneaking close to Hampton’s net before losing the ball to the Blue’s skipper.

At the 70th minute mark, Sam Kerr made her return to Kingsmeadow after suffering a brutal ACL injury in January of 2024. With that, the Chelsea press picked up and so did the atmosphere around the stands, with a standing ovation congratulating the strikers return.

With that came the next substitute, Jutta Rantala on for Hannah Cain, a well earnt rest after today’s impressive display.

At the 80th minute mark Alyssa Thompson earnt Chelsea a free kick in dangerous territory and with Olivia McLoughlin still on the side lines due to a previous collision, Erin Cuthbert’s cross came just centimetres from Sam Kerr’s head, forcing Leitzig into another save.

Moments later, the previously injured Olivia McLoughlin made way for former blue, Rosella Ayanne who earnt the side a free kick with her first touches. Tierney’s ball went short to Rantala before essentially being cleared by her own team mate, Eiriksdottir leaving Chelsea open on the counter attack.

In the 87th minute, Guro Reiten and Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd entered the field in place of Aggie Beever-Jones and Veerle Buurman, the blues desperately looking for a second before full time.

With six minutes added time announced, the momentum of both sides picked up, with Rosella Ayanne shooting from range in an attempt to catch Hannah Hampton off her line, the keeper however shirt her worth , clearing it from the top right corner.

Chelsea were then on the attack once again, Alyssa Thompson breaking free on the wing, crossing the  ball to Ellie Carpenter whose shot went wide.

Sam Kerr came close to claiming her second of the season after her return to play last week however was flagged offside, prompting Leicester’s final attack of the game.

The final attack of the game came from Alyssa Thompson on the right flank where the ball was cleared before the final whistle blew.

Chelsea continued their unbeaten streak once more after beating Leicester City 1-0 in west London. The blues will face West Ham in their first London derby of the season next weekend whilst Leicester host Tottenham Hotspur, both teams looking for another win after suffering defeat this weekend.

Chelsea squad celebrating Aggie Beever-Jones goal (image by Lucy Halliday for Constancy Sport 21/09/25)

Categories
WSL

Manchester City thrash Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 in first spurs loss of the season

Tottenham Hotspur:

Starting XI: Kop (GK), Grant, Nilden, Naz, England ©, Hunt, Tandberg, Ahtinen, Spence, Summanen, Koga

Subs used: Vinberg (46’), Thomas (64‘), Rybrink (64‘), Oroz (76’), Holdt (76‘)

Manchester City:

Starting XI: Keating (GK), Greenwood ©, Shaw, Miedema, Hemp, Ouhabi, Casparij, Blindkilde-Brown, Fujino, Hasegawa, Prior

Subs used: Kerolin Nicoli (22’), Clinton (64‘), Rose (64‘), Beney (81’), Coombs (81’)

Match day 3 of the Women’s Super League started off with a bang with two big matches at either ends of the country. In the north, Everton faced London City Lionesses where the south london blues looked to pick up their first points of the season, however, North London saw Manchester City travel to Tottenham Hotspur’s Brisbane Road in what would become a six goal masterclass.

Tottenham Hotspur entered the match with two wins in two with zero goals conceded, Manchester City on the other hand suffered defeat to Chelsea FC on the opening day of the season and had a close call against Brighton & Hove Albion just last week, however the match looked much the opposite.

The game started off strong for the visiting team after a false start from Tottenham led to City gaining and maintaining possession very quickly after the restart. The Lillywhites defence took a shaky start to the game with several close calls from the City attack.

A free kick from Nilden in the 17th minute saw Manchester City’s first real slip up of the game with the defence only clearing as far as Jessica Naz, who travelled far up the pitch, forcing Hemp into an uncomfortable tackle, forcing City into an early unwanted substitute early on.

Kerolin Nicoli’s substitution came soon after another close call from Tottenham Hotspur, with yet another impressive shot from Cathinka Tandberg forcing Keating into a tight save.

Just minutes later, Manchester City’s Aoba Fujino found the opener, the Japanese international’s shot proving too powerful for the gloves of Lize Kop.

Soon after, Khadija (Bunny) Shaw had an attempted back heel on goal but missed, producing a corner and a fantastic save from Kop. Greenwood’s following corner scored high of the goal.

Just ten minutes later, City doubled their lead, an Alex Greenwood header safely finding the head of Vivianne Miedema to strengthen the goal difference.

As the second half drew to a close, the citizens attack did not falter, with defender Kerstin Casparij joining in on the scoring, claiming a header due to a spurs defensive error.

With four minutes of time added on, the home team finally earnt themselves their first corner of the game, their biggest chance to score yet. This however saw too much power and so went out for a goal kick in the halves dying stages.

The start of the second half saw a more relaxed game from both sides with both teams having equal efforts on goal. Here we also saw the first booking of the game where Charlotte Grant saw yellow for the first time this season.

At the 55 minute mark spurs saw yellow for the second time after a strong tackle from Clare Hunt saw the defender penalised and a penalty go in favour of the visitors. Here however, Bunny Shaw saw her shot saved, Lize Kop diving the correct way and sending the ball out for a corner in which was taken short and a diving header was missed by Bunny Shaw.

A double substitution from both sides saw Martha Thomas and Josefine Rybrink enter the field of play for Tottenham Hotspur in place of Charlotte Grant and Cathinka Tandberg  and Manchester City bring on Grace Clinton and Jade Rose in place of Aoba Fujino and Alex Greenwood, with Casparij taking captaincy

The 74th minute saw what looked like it could have been the blues fourth goal of the game, with the visitors beating the keeper before having their shot cleared off the line.

Moments later, Maite Oroz and Olivia Holdt entered the field in place of Bethany England and Drew Spence, with Martha Thomas taking the armband.

Just fifteen minutes into her Brisbane Road return and her Manchester City debut, Grace Clinton found the net in the 80th minute, slotting one home against her former side.

Laura Coombs and Iman Beney replaced Bunny Shaw and Viv Miedema, with both attackers earning a well deserved rest

In the closing stages of the game, Spurs earnt a free kick in dangerous territory with Nilden’s attempt being blocked by the head of Gracie Prior.

Moments later Olivia Holdt found the back of the net for just the second time in a spurs shirt, with a screamer from outside the area.

To close the match, Laura Coombs scored her first goal since January 2025, lobbing the keeper from within the box.

The match ended 5-1 to the visitors with Tottenham Hotspur claiming their first loss of the season and dropping to fifth in the league.

Manchester City celebrating their second goal of the game (via @mancitywomen on Instagram)

Categories
WSL

Transfer window overview: Chelsea FC

With the transfer window coming to a close last night, domestic treble winners Chelsea seemed to have a reasonably quiet summer in terms of club incomings.

After the departure of Emma Hayes at the conclusion of the 2023/24 season, the club made several huge signings with the likes of Lucy Bronze joining the blues for the first time.

But this year, whilst still having the statement signings, the active January transfer window meant Chelsea could take a more relaxed approach to strengthening their squad.

The summer started off with the signing of Swiss international Livia Peng from Werder Bremen on a four year deal. The goalkeeper certainly made a good impression among fans during the UEFA Women’s Euro’s in the summer, helping her country make it to the quarterfinals for the first time before bowing out of the competition after a hard loss against Spain.

Mara Alber was the clubs next signing with four year contract agreed. The 19-year-old joined from TSG Hoffenheim after making her debut at just 16. The attacker had an injury riddled season last year however this doesn’t take away from her previous success both domestically and internationally having lifted the U-17 Euros in 2022 as joint top goal scorer and being named in the top three players of the U-17 World Cup just a year later.

The first statement signing of the summer came in the name of Ellie Carpenter, an Australian international with two Champions leagues (amongst other accolades) to her name. Having played under Sonia Bompastor before, she is certain to become a key part of the Chelsea squad, especially in Lucy Bronze’s absence.

One final signing was Jamaican international Becky Spencer. Having spent the latter half of the 24/25 season at Chelsea on emergency loan, it came as no surprise when Spencer made the move permanent. Whilst being expected to be third choice goalkeeper whilst at the blues, her two previous stints (one last year, one from 2016-2018) makes her a trusted shot stopper among fans.

To conclude the summer window, Alyssa Thompson signed for Chelsea from Angel City in the NWSL for a near £1 million fee as a deadline day deal. The attacker, who signed a 5 year contract has been capped 22 times for the USWNT and even made her debut at Wembley stadium in 2022 so a potential FA Cup final should come as no threat to her next summer.

(All transfers correct as of 14:00 pm 05/09/2025)

Becky Spencer. Photo: Abdullahi Ahmed for Constancy Sport