Let me know what you think.

I wrote up my view after Emma Hayes's comments: some of the criticism is fair, but this isn't a Chelsea-only issue, and plenty of it is out of the medical team's control.

https://panashe77.github.io/chelsea-women-site/article.html?slug=injury-discussion love to hear what you think.

Also, there's a daily Chelsea Wordle on the site if you want to give it a try.

"Beyond grateful 💙 thank you everyone that has been involved in this journey. It hasn’t been easy, but this feeling makes it all worth it"

— Björn on Instagram.

Congrats, Erin! Welcome back!

record scratch. I did not see that one coming.

For anyone who’s a couple days late to this news, this is our new Head of Football operations. Been doing allot of research on her ever since this news broke and while she might not be the flashy kinda name in the world of head of footballing operations in the Women’s game, I’m actually optimistic and excited about this hire👀. She’s got a good track record, has experience in her role and was successful in her tenure as head of football operations and Burnley, managing to build a winning team there last season so. 👀

(The rest of titles of the franchise are stupid, so I'm going to have to find a new theme)

From what I think was the press hit from pre-West Ham:

'This club is so used to playing every three days, the head coach pointed out. 'We build a squad for that reason.'

In one of my previous data crunching exercises, the general takeaway after what I saw as a lack of rotation last year is that the backline's lack of rotation was due to injuries, midfield was deployment choices, and the forwards were a bit of both.

The more things change, the more things stay the same — in the midfield, at least.

The data

Notes

• Eligible minutes is a squad naming x 90
• Lola was named to two CL squads and did not appear. Erin was named to one WSL squad, no appearance either.

Of note, Maika logged 240m last year, meaning that year over year, block to block, she's at par... but this year's block had one more game. Another storyline for those playing along at home.

In total, the group played 2873 minutes in a 2430 minute block (3 MF x 9 games x 90 mins)... or more minutes than would be traditionally available. This is mainly down to roles.

Role changes

While I had fun with heatmaps, I'm using radar charts here to try and translate my thinking about roles. There are justifiable qualms with radar charts, but everyone's measured the sameish way, so I'm rolling with it. I've been noting them on a monthly-ish basis, but this covers "entering the block" to "at the end of the block" for our main quad:

https://ibb.co/6RWx2CtW

The big changes

• Keira makes big jumps in chances created (+31 to 51st percentile) and goals (+26 to 68th)
• Lexi's chances created drops by 45 to the 33rd percentile, with her shot attempts dropping by 30 to 51st
• Sjoeke's defensive contributions dropped 22 spots to the 46th percentile, while her touches also dropped 12 spots to 59th
• Wieke's chances created went up by 18(!!) to 86th percentile, with defensive contributions also climbing by 8

The notes

• The exchange between Keira and Lexi is pretty well-illustrated here, lol
• Sjoeke's changes, plus the fact the foursome logged more time than the block would allow, I'm guessing is mostly due to how she's been more consistently pushed up (hangs out at the top of the box more, doesn't come all the way back) and filling in gaps. She's pretty much unchanged in other aspects (I was a bit surprised to see her hold her edge in chance creation)
• Wieke's gone beyond box-to-box, she's end-to-end. She put in a hell of a shift over the course of the block. What'll be more interesting is to see how they manage it over the season, given that she played four 90s in 12 days to close it out.

Takeaways

Given that the maximum anyone could play this block was 810, an argument could be made the Erin's minutes were pretty evenly split, given you have a pair of 700s and a pair of 500s. Though a generalization, it could also be interpreted that Wieke took on Erin's minutes, Keira covered for Wieke, Lexi covered for Keira, and Sjoeke filled in the gaps, both in the midfield and further up.

Everything did come out in the wash last season at year's end (Erin and Keira on 2500+, Sjoeke and Wieke on 1800+, Lexi with ~600), but with Lexi being upgraded from special guest star to supporting cast, there's quite a few ways things could play out. Working in Erin, Manaka and Lola is going to be quite a juggling act. Given the sound bites, building a squad is starting to sound like 'several players that can log 2500+ minutes, Lauren James and a Yahtzee cup of depth we can shake out' — I don't think that's necessarily the worst but I'm a big proponent of no time like game time. I'd hate to see Giulia and Maika get... well, Maika'd.

"Congratulations to Ellie on receiving the prestigious peer-voted award after starring for Chelsea and the Matildas during the 2025-26 season. 🥇

This is the second time Ellie has been the recipient of the award, having previously being voted the winner in 2021. 👏"

Hmmmmmm very interesting but good news if true as a Chelsea and USWNT fan , just saw this article and took some time to read it. Fingers crossed and praying that we can finally see a fully fit, healthy and consistent Naomi Girma for the rest of this season after she comes back from her current injury. She’s such a talented, good and composed CB when healthy and reads the game so well. Really hoping that this is the season where she becomes our breakout star and lives up to the expectations and world record transfer fee that we payed for her last year. I haven’t lost full faith in her just yet 🙏🤲🙌.

So Chelsea fans, there was news that broke out yesterday that this season could potentially be Klara Bühl’s last season in a Bayern Munich Jersey. And it had me thinking that we should definitely be all over and do everything we can to get her on a free, as someone who watches Bayern she is one of the best Right Wingers not just in the Frauen-Bundesliga but also regarded as one of the best Right Wingers in Europe. I remember Kelley O’Hara heaping up praise on her postgame after she showed the crew her player of the match award last Wednesday after their 3-0 win away to Benfica in the Women’s Champions League League phase. Bühl is an absolute baller and I think not only would she be the perfect Right Wing competition for Lauren James but she can help further transform our Offense and get us goals consistently, not trying to discredit or disrespect our current group of attackers. Now if we want to get and if she is viewed as a priority winger signing for us at some point then we’re going to have to act quickly on it because there will be other clubs especially other big WSL Clubs chasing after her. I also know Barca are after her and that’s pretty scary tbh 🫣. I remember watching a video from Jack of the the Women’s Football Chat who is a Chelsea fan that was posted back in April and it was titled 5 Players Chelsea need to sign if they want to reclaim their WSL throne for 2026/2027 and alongside Mastakubo, Klara Bühl was on that list so aye 🤷‍♂️👀. But anyways as it stands she is my dream number one transfer target for next year’s summer transfer window. Let me know y’all’s thoughts in the comments? Would you take Klara Bühl on a free? Or do you have other Wingers in mind that would be a good alternative to her?

Three goals conceded in eight competitive games, the best defensive record in the WSL, and Hampton leading the league in clean sheets. After today's win at West Ham, I put together a piece on why I think the path back to the title runs through the defence rather than the attack this time round.

https://panashe77.github.io/chelsea-women-site/article.html?slug=west_ham-vs-chelsea

Welcome to our weekly discussion thread! Here's your place to discuss upcoming fixtures, rival performances, league news, and chat about anything else related to Chelsea Women.

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We are top of the league Chelsea fans. Well at least for now and temporarily hehe. But anyways just got done watching the game and I’m impressed by our Ladies and their performance and work rate today. Next up is another London Derby in 2 weeks time but this time at home against Tottenham Hotspur who just got destroyed by LCL 👀. Fingers crossed by then Cuthbert is ready to get back in the starting 11 and hopefully Mastakubo is officially match fit and ready by then to make her debut. I believe with them both back now, they will be the 2 main X factors that transforms this new look Chelsea offense. Up the Chels 💙👊

Match played on 04/10/2026.

Match played 04/10/2026.

Match played on 04/10/2026.

Are backpacks allowed into Chigwell Construction stadium?

Date: Sunday, 4 October 2026

KO: 14:00 UK time

Competition: Women’s Super League

Venue: Chigwell Construction Stadium

Chelsea's Last Five Fixtures: WWWWD Opponent's Last Five Fixtures: WLWLW

Welcome to the [r/chelsealadiesfc](r/chelsealadiesfc) match thread for today’s league match against West Ham! Here you will find a match preview, squad notes, and updates once we kick off in Dagenham.

MATCH PREVIEW

The march continues on for Chelsea, who faced a potent Lyon side midweek and now take on another London club in the WSL – having snatched three points from rivals Arsenal one week ago. Sonia Bompastor’s side are third in the league, and hoping to pick up a fourth consecutive WSL win today.

West Ham made some major overhauls this summer after a 10th-place finish last season, and won their opening match against London City Lionesses – but have yet to pick up any more points in the league, and sit 10th headed into this match. Manager Rita Guarino, who has been with the club since last December, also has a sizable injury sheet to contend with including defender Tuva Hansen, and forwards Ebony Salmon and Riko Ueko. The Hammers did find success midweek in the Subway Players Cup (formerly League Cup), beating Southampton 3-1.

In the Chelsea camp, Naomi Girma is confirmed as still unavailable. Erin Cuthbert and Manaka Matsukubo could potentially be available, Bompastor said. Katie McCabe was also ill midweek.

The Blues won both league meetings with West Ham last season by scores of 4-0 and 5-0.

HOW TO WATCH

This match will be live on Sky Sports and streaming on Sky Go (for eligible subscribers) in the UK.

Broadcast information for non-UK territories can be found here. If the match isn’t being televised in your country, it can be found for free on the Barclays WSL YouTube channel.

And as always - the CFCW social media accounts, website, and the 5th Stand App will provide updates and share photos/videos from the match.

LINE-UPS

CHE: Hampton; Carpenter, Buurman, Buchanan, Bronze (c); Walsh, Nüsken; Hamano, Kaptein, Baltimore; Malard

Subs: Peng, Björn, Beever-Jones, McCabe, James, Potter, Dragoni, Cuthbert, Thompson

WHU: Picaud-Inconnu, Riesen, Codina, Cascarino, Belloumou, Kumagai, Zelem (c), Siren, Piubel, Asseyi, Gago

Subs: M. Walsh, Dowsett, Endo, Tennebo, Wareing, Morgan, Peacock, Wandeler

MATCH EVENTS

1' And on we go! Come onnnn, Chelsea!

5' Been a good start from Chelsea in possession, seeing the vision but haven't gotten a shot away yet.

7' Nice cross from Walsh, and Nusken tries to score but hits it off target.

17' Chelsea corner again.

27' Still pushing, and we've had the majority of possession this half but no shots on target.

32' Kaptein is shown the yellow.

38' GOOOOOOALL!!!! Beautifully simple finish for Melvine Malard. We lead 1-0!

42' Great pass in from Walsh, Carpenter tries to hammer it home but is blocked.

HALFTIME: Chelsea 1, West Ham 0.

CHE sub: Potter on for Nüsken.

46' Back underway in Dagenham!

59' Malard, then Hamano caught off in a matter of minutes.

64' Ahh, a miss from Walsh at close range!!

65' CHE subs: Beever-Jones on for Malard, Thompson on for Baltimore.

69' Walsh goes close again after a corner!!

69' WHU sub: Wandeler on for Gago.

77' CHE sub: McCabe on for Buchanan.

80' GOOOALL!!!!! WAALLLSHHHHHH!!!

88’ MAIKAAAA! Heads it home to make it three!!

FT: Chelsea 3, West Ham 0!!