“Vive la Révolution,” read the new banner amid faded neighbours behind the Chelsea goal in the first half, with a picture of Sonia Bompastor looking to the sky beneath the words. The Chelsea manager’s reign began with a 1-0 win against an Aston Villa side who likewise had someone new at the helm and top-six ambitions. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s first-half goal was the difference between the sides, though Villa came close to an equaliser in added time when their goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo came up for a free-kick and her header was tipped on to the bar.
Bompastor had said time and again in pre-season that she wants her Chelsea side “to be a dominant team”. They delivered in the summer, but would it translate to competitive play? Would the transition from Emma Hayes, in charge for 12 years, to the French winner of the Champions League (as a player and as a manager) affect their fluidity and dominance?
If the Women’s Super League opener in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,337 is treated as the litmus test for whether Chelsea are at a disadvantage by being in a transition year, then the 11 other top-flight sides should be concerned.
There were six new faces on the field in addition to the two most notable ones in the dugouts, with Robert de Pauw handing debuts to four new Villans and Bompastor handing starts to two summer recruits. D’Angelo, Missy Bo Kearns, Paula Tomás and Chasity Grant were in the starting XI for the visiting team, while Lucy Bronze and Sandy Baltimore made their debuts for the Blues.
There would be no debut for Gabi Nunes, Villa’s deadline-day signing, with the Brazilian forward not in the squad yet having only recently joined up with the side. Lauren James started on the bench, “a very small injury in the last friendly” meaning she did not train at the start of the week, according to Bompastor.
After the first ball of the 2024-25 season was kicked, it was clear Chelsea had every intention of shaping the title race from the off. The Blues were vivacious in possession, the fresh energy injected by Bompastor’s arrival that emanated from the camp and players in preseason showing on the pitch.
Guro Reiten could have put them ahead inside three minutes, when she was played through by a careering Millie Bright, but she pushed her first time effort wide. The Norwegian forward was at the centre of Chelsea’s attacking play, her free-kick finding Sjoeke Nüsken at the back post but her header across goal was a little high. She would go close twice more herself in the first 45 minutes, but each time placed her strikes wide.
There was one real scare for the home team, when Grant’s ball into the middle was met by Kearns, but with little time her side-foot sent the ball sky high from less than six yards out.
The opening goal of the season came in the 36th minute, and it was a fitting tribute to the home team’s stylish start. Rytting Kaneryd raced to the edge of the penalty area from the left before cutting back on herself and sending an unstoppable curving effort into the far corner.
Unwilling to be passengers on the champions’ steam train, De Pauw’s side played well in possession but when moving the ball into the final third, Chelsea were just better. However, the Villans began the second half brightly. Their manager said in the buildup that he had been told by a former coach of his: “You can win everything in pre-season but if you lose the first game in the league then pre-season failed.” That was perhaps a bit of an extreme take, given they were facing the title holders and seven-time winners (eight if you include the Spring Series). Villa’s positive pre-season was in evidence.
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In a spell when the visitors were on top, the Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was forced to dive on to the ball after a scramble in the box following a corner and two minutes later Villa caused problems again, Rachel Daly’s looping header dropping on to the bar.
Chelsea were increasingly camped in Villa’s half but the visitors made testing forays forward.
The home team almost doubled their lead in the 75th minute but D’Angelo was equal to the substitute Maika Hamano’s deflected strike.
The visiting team will perhaps feel they could have nicked something, with Hampton’s save from D’Angelo in the dying seconds going on to the bar and over, while Chelsea will rue missed chances. In the end, the single goal margin was fair, not a complete reflection of Chelsea’s dominance but an accurate one of Villa’s dynamism and resilience under the regular pressure. Relative league ambitions intact.
