Football Season Guide

Unlike Arsenal the defending champions Chelsea are bored of constant domestic dominance but lack of Champions League success. At least semi-finalists in 4 of the last 5 years in the Champions League Chelsea are yet to win this trophy. At the same time they cruised to their seventh consecutive WSL title last season. Finished full 12 points ahead of Arsenal and went undefeated all season – 19 wins and 3 draws. Chelsea also won the FA Cup and the League Cup so they collected all domestic trophies yet again. Have massive depth and the ability to rotate made life easy for first-year manager Sonia Bompastor. Despite going an entire season without lethal striker Sam Kerr scoring goals was never an issue. No player played in more than 14 WSL games and yet the constant rotation didn’t diminish the level of displays. Bored from winning easy on the domestic stage Chelsea are likely to prioritise the Champions League this season. They broke the world record for transfer fee paid for a female player last winter when signing American centre-back Naomi Grama. She’s set to become a key figure at the back where Chelsea are stuffed with talent. New right-back Carpenter is set to take some of the load from the ageing veteran Bronze, now 33-years-old. Sam Kerr will be back in attack and she will be hungry to shine after sitting out the entire last season. With no major names departing Chelsea remain stuffed with talent and rich on options for literally every position on the pitch. Coach Bompastor relies on rotation non-stop so more of the same can be expected. At least until February when the knockout stage of the Champions League begins Chelsea should remain strongly focused on the WSL. Once the matches of the truth in Europe start rolling though the domestic fixtures could take second stage.