Chelsea 2-1 Man City: Blues win thrilling WSL opener to deliver early title statement | OneFootball

Aggie Beever-Jones and Maika Hamano on target as Sonia Bompastor’s domestic Treble winners pick up where they left off at Stamford Bridge

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Dom Smith

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Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor faces the unenviable task of improving on, or at least matching, her near-perfect debut campaign in English football, which brought an invincible WSL campaign as part of a domestic treble.

It was fitting, then, that her first opponents of 2025-26 should be the only English side that managed to defeat her otherwise bulletproof Chelsea team inside 90 minutes last season, doing so in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

City are widely tipped as title hopefuls this season, and could have launched their challenge with a statement win here. Despite their best efforts, though, they failed to repeat those European heroics.

Managing a WSL match for the first time, Andree Jeglertz appeared unfazed by the scale of the opposition and his City side took the fight to the reigning champions. City pressed high from the first whistle, and Bunny Shaw was handed an early chance after Keira Walsh was caught out in midfield.

But Chelsea soon settled after the visitors’ spirited start, Ellie Carpenter driving their recovery as she marshalled the right flank, teeing up Sandy Baltimore to force a first save from Ayaka Yamashita.

As Chelsea took control, it became increasingly clear that there was a missing link in the Blues’ attack. In the first half an hour, Beever-Jones twice found herself in space out wide, but her crosses lacked a clear target amid the glaring absence of injured pair Lauren James and Mayra Ramirez.

It was in the central areas that Beever-Jones remained threatening, though, and she fired home from a pinpoint Carpenter cross to open her account for the season.

Despite pushing hard to equalise, City trailed at the break. Shaw forced another smart save from Hannah Hampton immediately after Beever-Jones’ opener, and Alex Greenwood rattled the crossbar from a free-kick moments later.

The flow of play was unchanged in the second half. Chelsea came out sluggish and remained pinned back, but Hampton was imperious. She saved again from Yui Hasegawa early in the second half to preserve the hosts’ lead.

As in the first period, the Blues slowly grew back into contention. With the City onslaught weathered, Chelsea suddenly looked the more likely scorers, with one Beever-Jones effort whistling past the post before she was replaced by Catarina Macario.

And it was the American’s dummy that set up Hamano to double Chelsea’s advantage. She played in Wieke Kaptein down the right flank but then let her low cross go for Hamano to drill home from close range.

With just 25 minutes left to salvage the game, City poured forward in numbers, and Chelsea began to wobble. They opened the door to a potential comeback as Greenwood’s free-kick was headed in by Charles for an unfortunate own goal.

City battled for an equaliser in the late stages, but it was Bompastor and Chelsea who took the lead in the new title race.