Chelsea Women have already had a delightful season debut with a 5-2 trouncing of Real Sociedad at our new home for cup matches, Plough Lane, nicely wrapped up in a 1-0 win over the Spanish team midweek in the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage qualifiers. Domestic action begins this weekend as we host Aston Villa at our new permanent home for the Women’s Super League, Stamford Bridge.
Date / Time: Saturday, September 4th, 2026, 12.30 GMT; 7:30am EDT Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6 Forecast: Sunny
intervals and light winds
On TV: BBC One (UK); CBS Sports Golazo (USA); elsewhere
Streaming: BBC iPlayer (UK); Paramount+ (USA)
Chelsea team news: A simple win was the doctor’s order for Chelsea in their trip to San Sebastián. Little need to stretch ourselves to a point where fitness becomes an issue as we already sat on a three-goal lead from the first leg.
For the Women’s Super League debut head coach Sonia Bompastor won’t count on striker Mayra Ramírez, still getting up to speed with the game after a season-long absence due to injury; and new signing Manaka Matsukubo, who has yet to debut.
Aston Villa team news: The visitors at the Bridge finished last season at ninth place with 12 losses in 20 league matches, including a four-match streak to mark the end of the term. With the Women’s Super League now being the home of 14 teams and having two relegation spots (one for play-offs) instead of one, Villa can’t afford the same kind of performance twice in a row.
They weren’t able to hold onto some very important players, including 12-league goals striker Kirsty Hanson who joined Tottenham and one of her attacking partners, Ebony Salmon, that left the club for West Ham on a free transfer. While former Juventus centre-forward Amalie Vangsgaard is not a like-for-like substitute to either of Hanson and Salmon, another Juventus signing in centre-back Mathilde Harviken can quickly prove key to their ambitions this season.
Injuries haven’t been kind to Aston Villa. Midfielder Jill Baijings, who had an ACL rupture a year ago, remains out of contention. Goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck is likely out as she recovers from a shoulder surgery.
Previously: One of those days where it seems things will go awry and all of a sudden they don’t.
