“We are facing a big opponent,” says Chelsea’s Sonia Bompastor ahead of “big opening game” against Manchester City | OneFootball

Chelsea’s Sonia Bompastor spoke to the media ahead of Chelsea’s opening game against Manchester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Friday at Stamford Bridge.

“We are facing a big opponent, a big opening game,” the former French international revealed on Thursday – but the Blues must face that challenge without Lauren James and Lucy Bronze, who returned from England’s UEFA Women’s Euro triumph with injuries and will need more time on the training pitches before they can return to the matchday squad.

Earlier this week, Chelsea announced that Mayra Ramírez has been sidelined with a long-term injury and is likely to return in the second half of the season. On a more positive note, however, forward Sam Kerr is in the squad and could be in line to make her long-awaited return at Stamford Bridge on Friday.

“Sam is in a good place. She’s been training well, she’s physically in a good position, and she’s also mentally in a good place,” Bompastor explained. “I think she’s one of the players everyone wants to see on the pitch. It’s nice for me to have her in the squad with her leadership experience, but at the same time, we have to be patient with her because she’s been away from the pitch for a long time. She’s not at her best level yet, but hopefully that will come soon. It’s already a good step for her to be in the squad.”

With two injuries decimating Chelsea’s frontline, Bompastor has had to look at alternative options. The 45-year-old confirmed: “I have different options in my squad, the first one able to play in that position after doing some great things from last season is Aggie Beever-Jones. 
I’m confident. I have others who play that position, Catarina Macario being one of them. I have in my mind one or two options where I can do something that may be surprising for people, so we’ll see what we need depending on the games.”

Last season, Chelsea won the domestic treble, but were not satisfied. They missed out on one trophy – the UEFA Women’s Champions League, which was won by their domestic rivals, Arsenal. Bompastor insists that the Blues “need to focus on growing more into our game plan, making sure we are able to execute that on the day. I think if you are able to have great performances on the day, it gives you even more chances to win the game. We are known for being a team who always find a way to win. I’m glad this is on us to be able to perform and win. That is my focus, going into this new season.”

As for the challenge that awaits on the opening day of the campaign, Bompastor accepted that Manchester City “have a really good squad, really good players. That’s never been easy games to play against them. It’s always been difficult. We expect a difficult game tomorrow, facing a big opponent. When analysing them from last season, it’s fair to say that they had some big injuries in the squad, they will be back to having almost a full squad. So it will be different. Going into the game tomorrow, we know what to expect, but we also know we are going to face a good team with a lot of quality.”

The season opener kicks off at 19:30 GMT [20:30 CEST] on Friday 5 September at Stamford Bridge.