Some may be quick to glance at the scoreline and conclude that little has changed in the women’s top flight.
Once again, Chelsea[1] are leading the way, opening their campaign with a win by that all-too-familiar margin – a single goal. Last season, they managed it 10 times in 19 games, and the champions have picked up where they left off.
Aggie Beever-Jones, the last women’s player to score here at Stamford Bridge, did so again, kickstarting the Blues’ 2025-26 campaign.
And, of course, a new club-record player was being paraded on the pitch to smoke machines and fanfare. Another young American firecracker ready to set the league alight – this time it’s £1million 20-year-old forward Alyssa Thompson.
And yet, there’s no denying that there is change in the air, and it’s not just the stench of alcohol[2] fumes emanating from the crowd as the new custodians of the league – Women’s Super League Football – trials allowing its supporters to enjoy their booze from the stands.
That change has come in the last few weeks, where prices have risen astronomically as the world record has been repeatedly smashed as the transfer market becomes more and more audacious. It has come with the arrival of new faces and the welcome return of some old – including Sam Kerr[3] to the bench of the Chelsea squad for the first time in 20 months.
Manchester City showed here they are a team willing and capable to challenge for the title
Sam Kerr returned to the Chelsae bench for the first time in 20 months – but didn’t come on
And it has also come with a new look Manchester City side, who showed here that they are a team willing and capable to challenge for the title this year, even if the numbers on the board may be trying to suggest otherwise.
Chelsea have made Stamford Bridge their fortress under Sonia Bompastor, but by the time the final whistle blew, the champions were rattled. The Blues had been outpaced and outfought, conceding 17 shots and Hannah Hampton was called upon five times to keep the ball out of the net. All of the statistics showed that City were the more dominant side, but ultimately lacked the clinical edge of their opponents on the night.
They will take confidence from this showing though, especially considering this is the most difficult ground to visit in the country.
It was a baptism of fire for City’s new manager Andree Jeglertz. The 53-year-old Swedish coach is only nine weeks into the job, but has quickly got a feel for the mammoth task that faces his side’s battle to topple Chelsea’s supremacy.
Jeglertz joined the Manchester club following Denmark’s elimination from this summer’s Euros and is a relative unknown in this league although has strong European pedigree, having won the Champions League with Swedish side Umea in 2004.
And there have been positive rumblings coming from within the walls of Manchester City’s camp following this summer’s pre-season, with players crediting Jeglertz’s openness and willingness to hear their input in training sessions.
Insiders close with the club have also shared their relief at his apparent willingness to rotate his starting XI – a welcome change following the often dogmatic approach of his predecessor, Gareth Taylor’s hesitancy to move away from his trusted line-up, which left a team bereft of starters when the burden of games and injuries began to catch up with them last season.
Aggie Beever-Jones, the last women’s player to score at Stamford Bridge, netted the opener
City academy graduate Gracie Prior had a positive evening and was involved in City’s goal
This much was evident in west London, with the Swede naming two of City’s academy young graduates, Gracie Prior, 20, and Lily Murphy, 19, in his starting line-up. The pair, who rose to prominence in the final months of City’s last campaign, both had largely positive evenings.
The centre-back, Prior, in particular, was dominant in her own box, although was lucky to escape any recriminations for a hand ball for a blocked shot on Sandy Baltimore midway through the first half. It was Prior’s weighty influence that helped draw a goal back for City and left Chelsea on a knife-edge for the closing stages.
But once again, City’s old Achilles heel struck again, as Euros star Alex Greenwood limped off with an ankle injury and then Murphy was stretchered off in tears, clutching her shoulder, all in the space of a couple of minutes.
The break allowed the momentum to swing back to the champions, and they called it a night with three points to call their own.
New signing Ellie Carpenter was excellent and was involved in the build-up to both of Chelsea’s goals. The Australian will provide ample competition to Lucy Bronze once England’s Euros warrior recovers from her tibia injury which she nobly battled through this summer.
But rivals will be able to look at this and see perhaps, somewhere, the cracks in Chelsea may lie. Those sipping their beers in the stands will certainly have a better time when they do.