Sonia Bompastor hails Chelsea mentality after crucial WSL win | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor has hailed her team's winning mentality following their crucial Women's Super League (WSL) victory over Leicester City on Wednesday night.

The league leaders risked seeing the points gap diminish after they were held to a draw away at Brighton & Hove Albion over the weekend. However, Bompastor's side proved why they are regarded as one of the best teams in Europe this season as they dismantled the Foxes at Kingsmeadow.

It took less than ten minutes for the hosts to open the scoring as Catarina Macario fired them in front before Aggie Beever-Jones added a second shortly after the break. Yuka Momiki pulled a goal back for the visitors just moments later, but Erin Cuthbert put the 3-1 result beyond doubt late on.

Chelsea have now put eight points between themselves and Marc Skinner's Manchester United in second place, albeit having played a game more than their closest challengers. United will have the chance to reduce the gap back to five points when they visit Liverpool on 14 March.

Speaking after the full-time whistle, Bompastor admitted her players were left frustrated by the weekend's result against Brighton and praised their mentality to respond in such a positive way.

"After dropping points in the last game, everyone was all frustrated," the manager told the media post-match. "We are all competitors and we hate to drop points.

"That's the winning mentality at Chelsea. We had one day where we were frustrated and then we had to bounce back because it was a quick turnaround to the game tonight, and that was maybe the best thing that could happen to us.

"From this season and also from last season, Chelsea have always shown they react. I was expecting to see that from my players after we dropped points on Sunday."

A big boost for Chelsea on Wednesday night was the return of USWNT forward Mia Fishel. The 23-year-old had been sidelined for a little over a year with an ACL injury, but was back in a matchday squad for the first time, although she is yet to get any minutes on the pitch.

Mia Fishel has been sidelined since February 2024 with an ACL injury / Crystal Pix/MB Media/GettyImages

Speaking on Fishel's return, Bompastor said: "Having Mia in the squad was really positive news. She's really close to being back to the competitive level. It's still part of the process, but I think the game tonight was not appropriate for her to come in.

"It will come soon and that's really good for us to have her. She's in a good place, but coming back from an ACL you always need to go step by step, build up your fitness and also your confidence.

"Mia is a really good player. She works hard for the team. I haven't seen her [play] yet as the manager and playing games with me, but from what I see in training sessions, she has the right mentality and works really hard."

The manager also provided brief updates on Guro Reiten and Sam Kerr, who are edging closer to fitness. Reiten returned after the international break with a back injury and has missed Chelsea's last two WSL fixtures, although Bompastor expects her to become available sooner rather than later.

Kerr, like Fishel, has been sidelined for more than a year with an ACL injury, but is yet to feature in a matchday squad. Bompastor confirmed the Australia international is doing well and isn't afraid to go into tackles during training sessions, but she is still being protected at this stage.