Photo Copyright Vincent Carchietta for USA TODAY Sports
With the start of a new Barclays Women’s Super League season looming on the horizon, Chelsea can be satisfied with their preseason as it was as successful as they could have hoped. The Sonia Bompastor era kicked off with three wins from three matches, including two significant victories over NWSL champions Gotham FC and the Arsenal Women. Their final preseason triumph came at Kingsmeadow, where they delivered a commanding 9-0 win against Feyenoord.
This tour provided valuable insight into what we can expect from Chelsea in the upcoming season as they aim to defend their title for another consecutive year. The summer signings have been exciting with a blend of experienced players and talented young internationals joining the squad, along with the return of several loanees, some of whom like Wieke Kaptein who could potentially be their starting central midfielder.
As the season opener against Aston Villa Women approaches on Friday, Sept. 20, it’s a fitting time to explore three key takeaways and lessons from the preseason.
Cuthbert commanding the midfield
The new season will see a new makeup in Chelsea’s midfield with new additions such as Oriane Jean-Francois, Julia Barthel, and the returning Wieke Kaptein. Still, it’s the ever-present Erin Cuthbert who undoubtedly will be pivotal for the midfield to work.
Bompastor likes playing with a 4-3-3 system with two attack-minded midfield and one holding midfielder. In doing so, she wants her two No. 8s to play with more energy and precision to help the inside forwards and striker. One of the No. 8s is likely to play a bit more of a hybrid No. 10 role, which means there’s only space for one ‘pure’ No. 8. Bompastor likes more technically creative midfielders with some physical traits to occupy the central areas to create goal-scoring chances, control the tempo, and contribute out of possession. While this needs to be seen in practice, Cuthbert should be a nailed-on starter as she suits Bompastor’s system in the way Sara Dabritz and Lindsey Horan carried out this box-to-box-like role.
“Sonia likes energy and her midfield to dictate the game from what I saw at Lyon – they have top, top players in midfield. I’m going to have to be at the top of my game to be in Sonia’s team,” Cuthbert said in a piece on Chelsea FC’s website.
The Scotland international is now regarded as the standout midfielder in Chelsea’s line-up, having delivered two successive breakthrough seasons with consistent improvement. Bompastor has made it clear in previous interviews that selection will be based on merit, not reputation, yet it’s becoming increasingly evident that Cuthbert will be counted on to play the aggressive role in midfield. Far from becoming complacent, Cuthbert has already positioned herself as a key figure in Bompastor’s midfield setup during the preseason.
There’s no doubt Chelsea and Bompastor will need all her experience to marshall a new midfield in their title defense.
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Cohesion and depth in forward lines
Chelsea have always been a club with many attacking options to navigate through multiple competitions, as they boast some of the best attacking players in Europe with the majority of them having been integrated into the team for over a season, yet despite such options, they still need depth and quality rotations.
Though Chelsea’s forward line has never been goal-shy, having enough players to navigate through the season becomes integral to success and it gives Bompastor enough resources to make tactical changes throughout games.
At Olympique Lyon, Bompastor largely stuck to her main principles of play and only made tactical changes when injuries forced her hand. The striker in Bompastor’s system functions both as a focal point for interchanging passes around the box and taking up crosses from the wide areas. The striker is responsible not just for scoring goals but crucially for creating space for the two inside forwards to operate. The space created by the center-forward means the attacking players move closer to the box and overload the opposition’s defensive players.
Sam Kerr may not be a carbon copy of Ada Hegerberg, but her strengths lie in her link-up play and exceptional back-to-goal skills, allowing her to occupy defenders, turn quickly, and release wide attackers. While Kerr continues to recover from her ACL injury, Bompastor will be eager to explore the potential of star striker Mayra Ramirez.
The Colombian international (who’s more in the Hegerberg mold) excels as a hold-up striker and has a knack for finding dangerous spaces inside the box for crosses and cutbacks. Supported by wingers Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Guro Reiten, and Lauren James, Chelsea boasts a potent attacking force capable of causing problems both in the box and out wide.
With James, Reiten, Rytting Kaneryd, Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano, Sandy Baltimore, Mia Fishel, and Catarina Macario, Chelsea possesses enough depth in attack to compete across all competitions. This is done without even factoring in Sam Kerr’s eventual return to the lineup.
The addition of Lucy Bronze
Going into the summer transfer window, Chelsea were always going to go through a slight change in the playing squad after bringing in a new head coach, but the recruitment model in place so far is geared towards younger profiles. This is why the signing of Lucy Bronze sits firmly outside of the norm and is somewhat of a shock to many.
At 32, Bronze represents a highly experienced signing and one that might just be the most important. Millie Bright spent large chunks of last campaign out with injury which meant Chelsea lost a key leadership presence on the pitch, and with Kerr sidelined and Sophie Ingle no longer a mainstay in the starting eleven, Bompastor must rely on other senior players capable of guiding the younger squad members through matches. Hayes sought to cultivate more leaders in the team last season by entrusting Charles and Cuthbert with the captaincy, and while both have thrived in those roles, the demand for experienced leaders remains critical.
Bronze’s addition doesn’t just bring experience to the side but also tactical and positional versatility, having played in several different full-back roles including both the inverted and traditional full-back roles. The need for freshness and rotation will be key and Chelsea now have five full-backs in the squad across the left and right sides.
Both Eve Perisset and Ashley Lawrence are the right-back options alongside Bronze, but it’s unclear at the moment who will start under Bompastor, though Lawrence fits the tactical profile more so than either Perisset or Bronze. Bronze’s decline has been evident across the last couple of seasons when she made some high-profile errors — including two in the 2023 UEFA Women’s Champions League final which left Barcelona 2-0 down against Wolfsburg, before they eventually came back to win it 3-2.
Despite this, Bronze’s versatility and experience will still be needed at a time when Chelsea will be playing two games a week regularly when the UEFA Women’s Champions League and domestic cups kick off — especially when it comes to the latter stages of those tournaments. Judging teams purely on preseason isn’t a true reflection of how they’ll go through the season but a positive one is always an indication of the team pulling in the right direction. Chelsea will hope a new coach and players will yield better results, especially in Europe.
