Chelsea – Constancy Sport

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)

Sonia Bompastor speaks to the press off the back of a 3-1 victory at Aston Villa, and ahead of an exciting home fixture against Leicester.

“It’s your first league game back at Kingsmeadow this Sunday, how much do you enjoy playing there and being in front of the fans?”

“Yeah I love playing at both stadiums, Stamford bridge and Kingsmeadow, I think the fans have been incredible for us last season and the beginning of this season already, the Man City game was incredible, we played Milan fc during preseason at Kingsmeadow and the crowd was fantastic again, so we love to play at Kingsmeadow and the fans are really close to us on the pitch and they are the 12^th man so that’s a really nice feeling and again, we can’t wait to be there on Sunday and meet them again for the game.

“What would you like to see from your team’s performance on Sunday?

“A strong performance again, strong start in the game” “In possession out of possession we want to look strong we want to make sure we, in terms of performance, bring everything possible for us to have a big chance to win the game. We have been working hard in different things in the game model this week and hopefully I see that on the game on Sunday. “

“We saw Alyssa Thompson make her debut on Sunday, how has she been settling into this side and what is she bringing to the team?”

“I had a really good conversation again with Alyssa yesterday and she’s settling in really well and she loves being here in London, coming from LA, that’s a good thing, but again I think she feels already part of the family and I think for me as a manager that’s important we create an environment where people feel part of the family. So, I think she feels good being around the players and being on the pitch. I think she understands what we want to achieve as a team and what we expect from her on the pitch and individually for the team, so everything is clear for her and she’s settling in really well and when I look at her, she’s smiling, so it means she’s happy.”

When asked about Sam Kerr’s reaction to scoring and how she’s been since scoring her return goal after being out for so long- if she has sensed a pressure relief?

‘I think she’s been smiling since last Sunday which is really nice to see” “ It was a relief moment for her and everyone in the club’ “People pay to come to the stadium to watch her on the pitch…so to be able to watch her, its great and positive news for her and the club’ “Lots of positives and that’s really nice after everything she’s been through”

When asked about the congratulations Sam has received realising, she may be able to hit the same heights as before her operation

“So important for her confidence” “It was a long time for her… all these months, all these weeks worked off” “ She is now officially back and got her 100^th goal, she has a lot of things to achieve with the club, with the team, but we still need to stay patient” “She’s working really hard in training sessions with us with the group, she has the support of everyone in the club and I think that’s a really nice feeling for her.”

When asked about how she manages Sam, if she needs a few more bench games before she is ready to start or if she is in a position to start on Sunday

“To be fair, I think she’s probably not 100% yet and probably not ready to start a game” ”From her experience and her quality, even if she has to start a game, maybe she’s not fully fit to play 90 minutes” “She’s been working hard and she’s someone you need to tell to go slowly and stop her a little bit because she’s so excited and wants to be on the pitch as much as possible, which we understand.” “We have to be careful with her still”

When asked about how she has seen Hannah Hampton mature and how she gives them the foundations to do what they are able to do

“Really important for a team like Chelsea to have, one of the best goalkeepers in the world if not the best at the moment” “Great goalkeeper for many reasons, she’s a complete goalkeeper, she makes some great saves for the team but also in possession of the ball she brings a lot” “ She’s really confident right now after last season with Chelsea but also after summer in the Euros with England and I think we can see that on the pitch and that is always really positive for the team to have a strong goalkeeper and to have someone who brings confidence into the team.

When asked about her squad and how it sets Chelsea aside from the other sides in the league

“This league is probably the most competitive league in the world for that reason because every weekend you have a different challenge to face and the other teams are first of all really motivated to play against us, they want to stop our run” “But also they offer different challenges” “It’s nice to have in my bench, players that can come in and change the game and make an impact for many reasons so it’s good to have diversity in the squad’ “players who are able to bring physicality, players who are able to bring technicality or tactical knowledge” “Nice to have that diversity in the squad” “Having these different types of players and profiles in the squad make us a little bit more unpredictable”

When asked about what she has seen from Leicester so far and said to her players about facing them

“Didn’t really talk about Leicester yet, we will in the next days, but I’m sure everyone knows we drop our first two points last season against them away so I think it’s enough for us to be alert going into that game” “The mental aspects for them, resilience and toughness, they have these two qualities and more than that so again going into the game on Sunday, we expect that, facing a team that is very well organised defensively and they will take any chance in the game to try to win so we are prepared for that but it’s about finding the balance of focusing on Leicester and also focussing on our strengths to make sure we are able to win the game.

When asked about being worried to face Leicester after Liverpool struggled to beat them

“We expect to face a tough opposition as they were able to win 1-0 with having one player down so it just shows their resilience and the fact they are brave’ “they are really comfortable out of possession and we expect that” “we need to find a way to just make them in trouble and if we focus on that I think we have quality enough to bring it to the game” “I think its important to find the right balance between focussing about the opposition but also focusing on your team and making sure your bringing to the game what you need”