Following the Chelsea Women continuing down the trend line of constant struggles to kick off each campaign, the Blues found themselves back at Kingsmeadow for a clash against one of their mightiest do foes season. Behind a sold-out crowd, a determined Chelsea side wavered the storm many times in the first half to play its best football so far this season, defeating the new-look Manchester City 2-0. From Lauren James’ calmness and quality on the right flank for the Blues to Erin Cuthbert putting together a world-class performance, owning the middle of the park with her unmatched physicality, there were plenty of positives to highlight from Chelsea’s must-win game against the Citizens.
After just 33 days of her announcement of her cancer recurrence, Ann Katrin-Berger made a heroic appearance in the starting IX, coming up in the moments when the Blues needed her the most between the sticks. Emma Hayes put out a very flexible formation that fluctuated quite a bit throughout the contest, but the key compared to the week prior was that Fran Kirby played much higher up the pitch in support of both James and Sam Kerr up top. Despite Kerr being just a step slow at the beginning of the season, James has found a place to shine after a year of learning the system.
Following a quality showing in front of their home support, Hayes expressed her thoughts on the Blues’ performance, stating, “Great second half from the team…thought we adapted really well to the challenges of the first half, lucky to go in 1-0 at halftime, but we have the quality to put balls in the back of the net. Kept a clean sheet, scored from a penalty, better all-around performance than last week…Finishes are so crucial to us, sometimes we have to adapt what we do…we needed a bit of momentum at the minute.”
Hayes was able to work around Pernille Harder’s injury with more time to prepare for it, and with Jessie Fleming back on the pitch after missing out in the opener, the Blues had a much more dynamic player alongside Cuthbert to start the match compared to the previous weekend. Khadija “Bunny” Shaw and Lauren Hemp may have asked plenty of questions of the Blues’ defense on Sunday evening, but unlike in Prenton Park, a team effort on the defensive end combined with Berger’s five saves and 11 ball recoveries, Chelsea locked up a crucial clean sheet ahead of a midweek fixture against its London rivals, West Ham United. From a rollercoaster first half to a more routine second, the Blues capture their first win of many in this new WSL campaign, here are the lessons learned.