We Ain't Got No History

Tottenham are enjoying a good season so far, with four wins in five matches before today’s encounter with Chelsea Women at Kingsmeadow. All of their victories up to this point were built on solid defensive displays and when all else fails, heroic Lize Kop saves between the posts to keep Spurs in contention.

We’d experience that in full extent today, especially in the first half. Even though the Blues themselves weren’t very hot in front of goal, many of our attempts against Kop were either blocked by a body thrown against the shot’s trajectory or saved by the Dutch goalkeeper herself. And they were more than happy to keep things as is, because it’s clear at this point a draw against Chelsea is as valuable to our opponents as a straight up win.

It would be good to see something different taking place in the second half, given our insistence in trying to walk the ball into goal. That was likely the idea when Catarina Macario got on the pitch in place of Wieke Kaptein. However a long range shot from Keira Walsh would be what we needed to break the deadlock.

As the final whistle approached, Tottenham tried to mount an answer and re-establish the previous scoreline equilibrium. But if Chelsea of all teams are struggling to make things happen in front of goal, the Spurs wouldn’t be any different.

Carefree!

It’s a 3-4-3 again, with Alyssa Thompson and Ellie Carpenter as wing-backs.

Very frustrating first half, as expected when Chelsea are lacking that “killing instinct” of yore.

Keira Walsh hasn’t been as impactful as expected when she first arrived at Chelsea. That’s why it’s great to see her taking up the Sophie Ingle mantle with a goal like today’s.

Next up: Paris FC at home in the Women’s Champions League.

KTBFFH!

It’s as good a time as any for a bounce back.

Chelsea Women aren’t used to dropping points and doing so consecutively does leave a bitter taste in our mouths. Against a Tottenham team that’s been on the rise since the beginning the season, the Blues have the best opportunity for double damage by getting back on the winning track and help putting an end on Spurs’ “good vibes all around”.

Chelsea starting lineup:

Hampton | Carpenter, Bright (c), Björn, Charles | Walsh, Cuthbert | Rytting Kaneryd, Kaptein, Thompson | Beever-jones

Substitutes from: Peng, Buurman, Nüsken, Macario, Reiten, Kerr, Bronze, Hamano, Jean-François

Tottenham starting XI:

Kop | Nilden, Naz, England (c), Vinberg, Hunt, Tandberg, Ahtinen, Summanen, Neville, Koga

Substitutes from: Heeps, Grant, Bartrip, Rybrink, Oroz, Holdt, Graham, Gunning-Williams, Thomas

Date / Time: Sunday, October 12, 2025, 12:00 BST; 7:00 am EDT

Venue: Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, UK

Referee: Grace Lowe

On TV: Sky Sports (UK); ESPN2 (US); elsewhere

Streaming: Sky Go (UK); ESPN+ (US)

Chelsea Women return to Kingsmeadow for a London derby against Tottenham Hotspur, looking to reassert control in the Women’s Super League after dropping points last time out. The Blues remain unbeaten under Sonia Bompastor, but with rivals close behind, every result now carries added weight.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have been one of the early surprises of the season. Under new manager Martin Ho, Spurs have produced a sharper, more disciplined side that sits firmly in the top half after a strong start.

Date / Time: Sunday, October 12, 2025, 12:00 BST; 7:00 am EDT

Venue: Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, UK

Forecast: Sunny with light winds

Referee: Grace Lowe

On TV: Sky Sports (UK); ESPN2 (US); elsewhere

Streaming: Sky Go (UK); ESPN+ (US)

Chelsea team news: You can boil Chelsea’s tie to FC Twente in their first UEFA Women’s Champions League match this season down to luck given how many chances we had to get it done in the first half. This doesn’t detract from the fact we failed to get the full points from one of the easiest matches we have in the competition, something that ought to bite us in the back when push comes to shove.

Nevertheless it’s time to recover. And there might not be a better way to do so than getting a good result against a bitter rival in an apparent rise from their previous marks.

In injury news, manager Sonia Bompastor has confirmed that Niamh Charles and ‘caged tiger’ Lucy Bronze will be in the squad and available again after recovering. Sjoeke Nüsken is also fit to feature, after being substituted in the midweek Champions League tie with Twente. However, Lauren James and Naomi Girma remain unavailable and are still weeks away from returning.

Tottenham team news: Tottenham made few but targeted moves this summer. The highlight thus far is former Hammarby attacker Cathinka Tandberg, their current top scorer with three goals in five Women’s Super League matches. Fullback Tōko Koga, who arrived from Feyenoord during the last transfer window, has also helped with solidifying their backline.

Spurs head coach Martin Ho confirmed that defenders Ella Morris and Luana Bühler are unavailable for the Chelsea match. Fellow defender Molly Bartrip, who’s been out so far, might be back in contention.

Previously: A somewhat even first half where Chelsea still came out on top, followed by an absolute dismantling in the second part.

Tottenham Hotspur look set to sign Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig, with terms and fees all agreed, medicals done, and paperwork just about fully finalized. If Chelsea are to swoop in, we have maybe minutes.

But it doesn’t look like we’re going to Willian this, with the Blues now apparently fully focused on trying to get Fermín López from Barcelona instead. That was already the feeling yesterday, and now looks to be the plan for sure.

Then again, given our reluctance to push to seal the deal for Simons even after the transfer of Christopher Nkunku to AC Milan was agreed, perhaps the Leipzig man was no longer very high on our shortlist. Perhaps it was Fermín all along! Either way, we had plenty of time to make it happen and we did not.

We have slightly less time to make Fermín happen, and we’re going to need slightly more money than the €60m Spurs are handing over for Simons (per The Athletic).

Or maybe we’re just happy with Alejandro Garnacho here in the final week?

Chelsea have been strongly linked with Xavi Simons over the past few weeks, with Simons “determined” to leave, but more recently, things have been at a stalemate, waiting on other transfer pieces to get lined up and fall (and with Simons continuing to play for RB Leipzig).

Into that natural gap have stepped Tottenham Hotspur, who are said to be “desperate” to land some attacking reinforcements after getting gazumped for Eberechi Eze (who joined rivals Arsenal) and failing to tap up Morgan Gibbs-White (who signed a new contract with Nottingham Forest instead).

According to The Telegraph, Spurs are “holding talks over a bid” for £60m-rated Simons (unclear with whom they are talking, player, team, or just amongst themselves) and will want to move “quickly [to] close a deal and minimise the threat of Chelsea stealing” in.

I’m not sure we really need Simons in the team, but if we can get Spurs to pay for his flight, it might be worth it.

The transfer window slams shut on Monday.

Barely a couple hours before Chelsea (men) will give a guard of honor to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea (women) will be getting one of our own, from cross-town rivals Tottenham Hotspur at Brisbane Road.

Bompastor’s Blues were confirmed as champions of the Women’s Super League for the sixth (6th!) straight year on Wednesday, beating Manchester United in what will hopefully be a preview of the FA Cup final coming up shortly as well.

While we have nothing tangible to play for in the league anymore, our title would be even sweeter if we could end the season as invincibles.

Let’s go!

Date / Time: Sunday, May 4, 2025, 14.15 BST; 9:15am EDT

Venue: Brisbane Road, Leyton, UK

Referee: Mel Burgin

Forecast: Cloudy with some wind

On TV: BBC Two (UK); none (USA);elsewhere

Streaming: BBC iPlayer (UK); ESPN+ (USA)

Tottenham team news: Spurs will want to get this 2024-25 campaign over and move on to the next one as soon as possible given their massive drop in form from last year. While the season isn’t over and every team from fifth to eleventh are only nine points away from each other, Spurs are likely to finish in third to last ... after a fifth-place finish a year ago. Ouch.

Their most notable absence is striker Hayley Raso, who’s been out since late March due to injury. Former Chelsea midfielder Drew Spence is back however, as she returns from suspension. She will certainly hope to combine with fellow ex-Blue, Bethany England to make the us pay under the Law of the Ex.

Chelsea team news: WSL Champions for a sixth consecutive time, and with two matches left in the season. Simple as.

Besides our long-term absentees our only injury concern is Mayra Ramírez, who was forced off the pitch in our last game. According to manager Sonia Bompastor, the knee pain is nothing serious, and while she won’t be available for this game, but she should be back for the FA Cup final at the latest.

We may have been denied a goal of the month candidate, but as Caicedo said it on his Instagram, at least it was nice while it lasted. And thanks to VAR’s glacial pace, it was a fair few minutes indeed.

But of course the goal that wasn’t was just the cherry on top of yet another Man of the Match performance from Moi, his seventh of the season, tops in the team (now one ahead of Palmer).

“I think in this moment, he’s one of the best or the best defensive midfielders in the world. He’s doing fantastic — the best thing about Moi is that every day he’s working serious, he’s very humble, he’s very kind, he’s polite, he’s a fantastic guy. And I think today was another great performance.”

-Enzo Maresca; source: YouTube via Reddit

That’s three goals in his last six for Chelsea (with an assist), to go along with his goal and assist for Argentina over the break, so it’s fair to say that Enzo’s back in the form he was showing a few months ago, just before Christmas.

When Enzo’s scoring, our chances of winning always go up. He’s now just one shy of the seven goals he scored in all competitions last season.

The goal-contribution drought is over!

vs. SPURS (PL, H, W 1-0)

EXCEPTIONAL (9.0+): —

EXCELLENT (8.0-8.9): Caicedo (8.4), Enzo (8.1)

GOOD (7.0-7.9): Palmer (7.4), Chalobah (7.3), Cucurella (7.2)

AVERAGE (6.0-6.9): Jackson (6.8), Sánchez (6.7), Colwill (6.6), Neto (6.4), Gusto (6.3), James (6.2, sub), Madueke (6.2, sub)

SUBPAR (5.0-5.9): Tosin (5.9, sub), Dewsbury-Hall (5.9, sub), Sancho (5.6)

BAD (4.0-4.9): —

TERRIBLE (3.0-3.9): —

OVERALL

Given the way how these games often go, Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur last night was practically an outlier. Just one goal. Clean sheet! Sure, a bit of aggro at times. And two disallowed goals by VAR. So not entirely free of drama, but certainly not quite on the level of some of the more famous encounters.

Not that I’m complaining. Given the way how so many of Chelsea’s recent games have gone, this game was thankfully also an outlier in the sense of tactical approach and execution. Obviously, that had something to do with the way Spurs themselves approached the game with their die-hard fascination with Ange-ball, but it was heartening to see some direct attacks and even, if you can believe it, long goal kicks towards the end of the game.

This isn’t something Enzo Maresca likes to see, per se, but even from him, this game called precisely for the sort of pragmatism we saw in his setup, his tactics, and his substitutions.

“I think tonight the performance was very good and we are happy. [...] It was a different game compared to before the international break [...] the last four games at home were Leicester, Southampton, West Ham, and Wolves. Four teams that they sit back and wait for us. Tonight...Tottenham is a different kind of game, so for us in some ways it’s better.

“[That said] we don’t work every day to win the game in the way we win and play in the last ten minutes in terms of waiting for them and giving the ball to them. But if you want to become, I think you need also to learn and to play in the way we played in the last ten minutes: win a game in a dirty way.

“Because I think for 90 minutes until the extra time, we were in control, we created chances enough to win the game, we created chances enough [in the] first half. But then [I made a] mistake because I did the change before I saw the extra time, and when I saw 12 minutes, I saw that probably was too early to make that kind of change. But fortunately, we won the game.”

-Enzo Maresca; source: YouTube via Reddit

To those who have grown used to Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham throwing themselves at the opposite side of the pitch and hoping they can win matches by force and nothing else, their game plan at the Bridge was a bit out of the left field. Instead they chose to sit back, cushion the pressure and thus let Guglielmo Vicario play lifesaver every so often.

We got close to breaking his spell in the first half. But the breakthrough only came in the second one with Enzo Fernández free to head a Cole Palmer cross into the back of the net.

Although Spurs were not being as risky as usual, they were still playing dirty. At the end of the first half Cristian Romero and Trevoh Chalobah were both yellow carded as the latter came to the rescue of Levi Colwill, who had just been shoved by the former. Later on Pape Sarr got away with only a yellow card after scoring a (cancelled) goal by hitting Moisés Caicedo’s knee with his studs.

Amazingly this world-class refereeing by Craig Pawson didn’t lead to as much indiscipline as it should. All thanks to Chelsea keeping their calm to take home the full three points which will hold them up in the Premier League’s top four.

Carefree!

Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson back in the fold and in the starting lineup already.

If it wasn’t for Tottenham having a really good shot-stopper Chelsea would’ve been a goal or two in front in the first half.

Palmer is amazing, and the Enzos certainly enjoy that!

Noni Madueke also back, as a sub.

Robert Sánchez with key interventions in the second half to bring us three extremely important points.

Next up: Brentford away in the Premier League.

KTBFFH!

Chelsea are back in action tonight, and so are injured trio Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, and Noni Madueke. We’ll see if all, or any, of the three actually start against Spurs, but they all should be available for selection.

For the WAGNH Community, two of them do start, Palmer and Jackson — and that’s despite some question about their fitness status at the time of voting. But we’re desperate for some cohesive attacking play, so getting them back in as soon as possible is imperative.

Joining that duo is Pedro Neto, back on the wing, and Jadon Sancho, who edges out Madueke (24%) and Christopher Nkunku (32%) for the fourth attacking spot.

The rest of the lineup is as you’d expect, with Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo in the middle, Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill the two center backs, and Marc Cucurella and Reece James at full back. In goal, Filip Jörgensen maintains a solid 64-35 advantage over Robert Sánchez.