Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s report from Kingsmeadow.
Chelsea scorer Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, via the BBC: “It was nervous minutes in the end, they were really pressing us and I feel like Hannah did some very good saves today. It was a typical first game of the season I feel like, I’m just happy we can win.”
“It’s been very different, Emma was here for so long and had her plan to play. Sonia came in and was clear with her plan to play. It’s hard in the beginning to set every detail in the game but I feel like it’s very clear. If you play for Chelsea you want to win, you should win.”
Sonia Bompastor speaks to the BBC: “It’s always important to get the win. I hoped we could score more goals but everyone said welcome to the league and here we are. Today you saw the importance of a goalkeeper being good at her feet. Villa played a great game. The result is important but the content is always important.”
Full-time: Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
Late drama and Villa denied. They were the better team in the second half, having impressed in the first. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd got the winner but it was Hannah Hampton who made it a winning start for Sonia Bompastor.
90+4 min: Chelsea try to kill the clock with a late sub. Villa have a free-kick and D’Angelo heads it, another fine save from Hampton. She’s the match-winner…it comes to an end, Chelsea only just winning.
90+3 min: The keeper’s up, Daly gets on the end and WHAT A SAVE from Hampton. It looked to have crossed the line but no, that’s a crucial save.
90+2 min: Hampton smashes out of play, desperate stuff. And Villa have a corner.
90 min: Lucy Bronze attempts to kill some of the three minutes added on. Sonia Bompastor is looking nervous. She knows her team’s been in a game.
89 min: Millie Bright has to do a Peter Kay “ave it” in the area, smashing long. But Villa come back at them.
88 min: Millie Bright has to clear up when Katie Robinson is zipping to the byline. Plenty of defensive duties to be carried out as Villa push push push.
85 min: As in the first half, Villa have tired a little, but they’ve also pushed up, with Ebony Salmon now on. Rachel Daly isn’t happy when the ball doesn’t reach her in the area.
83 min: Lauren James is at last imminent. Kaneryd, the goalscorer, is the player to make way.
80 min: Some touchline histrionics from Robert de Pauw. His team have been pretty impressive and well organised.
78 min: Reiten goes in to come back out again but Chelsea fail to get the ball into the centre. Reece James is in the stands but then again, so is his sister. Lauren.
77 min: Chelsea push up, Hamano leading the press and picking up the loose ball.
75 min: Still so much to play for. Villa are now using the lively Leon as their out-ball.
74 min: Beever-Jones has a shot blocked as the Chelsea fans at last begin to sense their team getting somewhere. Lucy Parker almost knocks in Hamano’s cross after the Japanese player makes a darting run.
72 min: Lucy Bronze sits down. Injured? No, but very possibly tired out. Chelsea at last gain some territory when Reiten is pulled down.
Updated
70 min: Kaneryd remains a danger to Villa, who are otherwise dominating possession. Lucy Bronze makes a desperate clearance and De Pauw asks Lucy Hanson to press hard.
68 min: The changes haven’t altered the fact that Villa are on the charge, Leon has an impact, Millie Bright having to use all her wiles. Chelsea look short of ideas. De Pauw can be heard again.
66 min: Villa changes. Grant off, having played so well. Leon on. Dali off, Katie Robinson on.
For Chelsea, Beever-Jones and Hamano come on. Baltimore and Ramirez, both quiet, depart the field.
64 min: Villa are still at it, you know. Another corner is forced. Chelsea make a mess of a counterattack when they had players over, and Bright is forced to make a desperate tackle.
62 min: Rachel Daly performs a swan dive to win a free-kick. All her experience was used there.
61 min: Kirsty Hanson has been highly active since coming on at half-time. More Villa subs are imminent.
60 min: Chelsea go close…chances at both ends, this time Ramirez cuts inside, but cannot find a teammate to complete her work.
58 min: Fine defending from Buchanan as Hanson seemed likely to get away but the corner is taken far too flatly, a waste of territory.
56 min: Chelsea corner, and Keisha Buchanan heads over, having gone too early on the climb.
54 min: Kaneryd and Reiten link down the flanks, and the ball bounces back out, to no takers. Sonia Bompastor is having a word with the fourth official.
Updated
52 min: Villa – again – pushing up high. They’ve been excellent…but perhaps they are not so tight defensively…Baltimore goes close for Chelsea when space opens up.
50 min: Rachel Daly’s header from the edge of the box almost beats Hampton who looks a little lost as it spins beyond her, and off the bar. Villa are still creating chances.
49 min: Kaneryd is on song, taking down a long ball from Hampton, tucking inside and then setting up Ramirez, who then misses the target.
47 min: Villa back on the front foot and Chastity Grant forces a corner. That causes some chaos as the ball is around to bounce, Lucy Parker can’t connect and Hannah Hampton is only too glad to claim the ball.
46 min: Back for the second half, and it’s a Villa change, with Kirsty Hanson replacing Lucy Staniforth, who was on a yellow.
The stats tell a story: 53% to 47%, five shots to four.
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
Chelsea were not great there, with Villa’s efforts holding them at bay. Sonia Bompastor looked relieved at that Kaneryd goal. Villa played well, in my opinion though the TV commentators seem to disagree with me.
45 min: From a set piece, Millie Bright only narrowly fails to commit; Chelsea really stepping it up now.
44 min: Villa seem to be tiring, and Lucy Staniforth, already on a booking concedes a foul on Cuthbert.
43 min: Bronze and Reiten link up, trying to get Ramirez on the ball but it’s Lucy Parker to the rescue.
40 min: Chelsea’s Nusken, down the right, shoots and D’Angelo makes a fine save. Villa hanging on a fair bit more than they were before.
38 min: Sonia Bompastor remained elegantly impassive as her players celebrated that breakthrough. She’s seen much in the game as a player and manager, and will know her team haven’t hit their straps.
Goal! Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa (Kaneryd, 36)
Chelsea at last find some space, and Villa give it up. Thomas lunges, Kaneryd cuts back and wallop, D’Angelo could not stop it. Did that come against the run of play?
Updated
35 min: More evidence of that Villa pressure, Hampton hacks the ball straight off the field.
33 min: Bronze gets the ball and has to cut in, as Villa continue to close down space.
31 min: Space opens up for Jordan Nobbs to shoot; Hannah Hampton saves but is furious the space had opened up.
30 min: Lauren James doing her warmups on the sideline, to remind of the squad depth Chelsea have to hand. At the moment, their first XI is struggling a tad.
28 min: A shake of the head from Fran Cuthbert; it’s not going to plan for Chelsea. Ramirez is having to get through an awful lot of defensive duties.
26 min: The corner is cleared as Lucy Parker misses her attempt to get on the end of it.
25 min: Villa’s Tomas is pinged down the flank by D’Angelo, her keeper, and Bronze has to concede a corner.
23 min: Chelsea now pressing high, with De Pauw telling his team to go over the press. He’s quite the character.
21 min: Up in the stands, Sam Kerr, who won’t be back until 2025. Villa continue to hold the ball in the corner, Chastity Grant holding the ball. Chelsea are having to sit deep.
18 min: Chelsea attempt to take the sting out of the game but Villa continue to be a threat. Sonia Bompastor is looking a little concerned.
16 min: Hannah Hampton the busier keeper so far? That’s a surprise. De Pauw’s team are well drilled. Chelsea seem a little more…freeform.
Updated
14 min: De Pauw can be heard to ask his players to go back to the keeper. Villa look the far more direct team. And they’ve come right into it.
12 min: Villa go so close. Twice. Paula Thomas drags a shot wide. And then Kearns is aghast when the ball drops to her and she cannot beat the forest of legs. The new Chelsea will offer you chances, it seems.
10 min: Villa get another corner, it taking Erin Cuthbert to get the ball clear. The set piece and the long throw have clearly been worked on.
8 min: Another Ramirez gallop, after Baltimore’s tackle, and another Reiten shot wide.
6 min: Villa mount an attack and win a corner. Jordan Nobbs takes, but it’s cleared and Chastity Grant comes across to stop the counter attack. It’s brisk stuff so far.
4 min: On the sidelines, Bompastor cuts a cooler figure than her predecessor. So far, the dominance is just the same.
Lucy Staniforth gets a booking and gives away a free-kick that’s aimed at Bright. She’s just unable to get on the end of ir.
3 min: Bright being so far forward suggests this could be total football from Sonia Bompastor. Good to see. It’s all Chelsea, after Ramirez, on the gallop, wins a corner.
Away we go in the 2024-25 WSL season
1 min: They take the knee, and off we go on Jack Goodchild Way. Nice Friday night noise from the home fans. Their team starts on the front foot. Millie Bright is forward and heads on for Reiten to drag wide.
Sonia Bompastor walks out, then realises she’s forgotten something and has to dash down the tunnel to retain it. Big smiles from De Pauw as they shake hands. Maybe he’s not so taciturn after all. The Villa players wearing black armbands for Gary Shaw.
Sonia Bompastor speaks about Lucy Bronze: “She has so much experience, she is one of the best right-backs in the world. We are the holders so we need to start strongly. Friendlies are different. Competitive games are a different mindset.”
“Tough opponent, nothing to lose, plenty to play for.” Villa manager Robert de Pauw is from the Arne Slot school of taciturn Dutchman.
For the home team, Lucy Bronze and Sandy Baltimore make debuts, while Mayra Ramirez starts up top for Chelsea. Missy Bo Kearns and Sabrina D’Angelo make their Villa debuts, too.
And a profile of Sonia Bompastor, from the time of her appointment.
And the respective teams’ season previews.
Before we get started, there’s still time to read Suzanne Wrack’s preview of the season.
The teams are here
Chelsea: Hampton, Bronze, Bright, Buchanan, Lawrence, Cuthbert, Nusken, Reiten, Baltimore, Kaneryd, Ramirez. Subs: Musovic, Macario, James, Bjorn, Perisset, Kaptein, Mpome, Beever-Jones.
Aston Villa team: D’Angelo, Maritz, Patten, Parker, Tomas, Nobbs, Staniforth, Grant, Kearns, Dali, Daly. Subs: Poor, Mayling, Corsie, Turner, Pacheco, Leon, Robinson, Hanson, Salmon.
Preamble
So this is Chelsea without Emma Hayes. And Emma being Emma she’s already made waves with an Olympic gold. So no pressure, Sonia Bompastor, once of Lyon, takes charge at Kingsmeadow – no roll-out at Stamford Bridge – after a promising summer tour. The expectation, this being Chelsea, is that they win the WSL. Such are the standards. It won’t be the same without Fran Kirby and Jess Carter, among others but Lucy Bronze is among the summer arrivals.
As for Villa, Robert de Pauw has taken over after Carla Ward’s surprise exit, and there’s been plenty of change. Rachel Daly remains, and without her England duties to consider, and Chelsea know she is still one of the best stikers in the game.
Kick-off is at 7pm. Join me.
