We Ain't Got No History

Chelsea made it four wins in a row with the 5-1 thumping against Southampton on Wednesday, and while this isn’t actually our longest winning streak of the season (we had won five in a row back in September), this streak does really feels like progress. “We got our Chelsea back,” if you will, whatever that means.

Well, if “Our Chelsea” are truly back, then a win against Spurs is certainly in order. Even if we weren’t back!

Enzo Maresca rotated a good majority of the team midweek, but the likes of Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández, Marc Cucurella, and Cole Palmer did not get much, if any rest. We’ve not had to start any player three times in one week so far this season, but we might have to cross that familiar bridge now.

Thankfully, our injury situation remains manageable, as Reece James and Wesley Fofana deal with their hamstring injuries and Mykhailo Mudryk tries to get over whatever illness has been affecting him.

Choose wisely.

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Like many of Chelsea’s wins in this early season, it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, but we would get the job done against Spurs on this Sunday night at Kingsmeadow ... before running away with it late to make the scoreline look a lot nicer in our favor.

The first half saw an early goal from Maika Hamano (set up by Johanna Rytting Kaneryd) and an own goal on a Guro Reiten corner sandwich a generously awarded goal to Spurs on a ball that most likely never actually crossed the line — underlining the lack of technology, goal-line or otherwise in the WSL still.

But Chelsea were far from a smoothly operating machine, and though we’ve already shown the ability to stage strong rearguard action if needed, thankfully it didn’t come to that this time (especially given the manner of officiating that seemed to award or disallow goals at random).

Kaneryd took matters into her own hands once again and scored a wonderful volley halfway through the second half, before Sandy Baltimore added a fourth from the spot. Spurs got a late consolation, but would get no closer as Kaneryd would complete her Player of the Match performance with a brace.

Carefree.

Chelsea have made a perfect start to the season under new head coach Sonia Bompastor, and we have a great chance to keep that going as Spurs come to Kingsmeadow.

Chelsea would go up to second with a win, one point behind Manchester City, who have played one game more. It’s still early in the season, but it’s looking like a two-horse race for the title this year — and any dropped points at any point could be the fatal dropped points.

Here we go!

Chelsea starting XI:

Hampton | Bronze, Bright (c), Buchanan, Baltimore, Nüsken, Cuthbert, Hamano, Reiten, Kaneryd, Ramírez

Substitutes from: Mušović, Lawrence, Björn, Pèrriset, Kaptein, Mpome, Jean-Francois, Bernabé, Beever-Jones

Spurs starting XI:

Spencer | Neville, Bartrip, Hunt, Nildén, Summanen, Ahtinen, Spence, Naz, England (c), Vinberg

Substitutes from: Talbert, Bühler, Grant, Morris, Csiki, Dennis, Thomas, Gunning-Williams, Pierre

Date / Time: Sunday, October 20, 2024, 18.45 BST; 1:45pm EDT; 11:15pm IST

Venue: Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, London

Referee: Emily Heaslip

On TV: Sky Sports (UK); none (USA)

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

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!

Following Thursday’s 3-1 win against Twente in the Champions League, Chelsea return to WSL action this weekend, at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday night.

This will be match number six of the Bompastor Era. We’ve won all five previous despite not always looking like a well-oiled machine. But as long as the wins keep rolling in, we’ll have time to work out the kinks.

Date / Time: Sunday, October 20, 2024, 18.45 BST; 1:45pm EDT; 11:15pm IST

Venue: Kingsmeadow, Kingston upon Thames, London

Referee: Emily Heaslip

Forecast: Rainy and windy

On TV: Sky Sports (UK); none (USA)

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

Chelsea team news: Lauren James was a late scratch midweek after picking up a foot injury in warm-ups. It’s unclear how bad that injury might be, but she will likely join usual suspects Niamh Charles, Aniek Nouwen, Sophie Ingle, Mia Fishel, and Sam Kerr on the sidelines this weekend.

Tottenham Hotspur team news: Spurs have a fairly lengthy injury list as well, though defender Ella Morris has been declared fit and should be in line to make her debut after arriving in the summer from Southampton. Fellow summer signing Amanda Nildén (midfeidler, from Juventus) is questionable. Another new arrival, forward Hayley Raso (from Real Madrid) is less fortunate, and will miss out, alongside Shuang Wang, Amy James-Turner and Kit Graham.

Spurs have four points from their four games playerd. They finished sixth season