It is no surprise that Chelsea FC Women top the Barclays Women’s Super League standing at the winter break, the London club has continued in fine form, dropped only two points in their ten games played in the first half of the English 2024-25 season.
The team is under new leadership after Emma Hayes vacated her post as head coach at the end of last season, with former French international Sonia Bompastor leading the team’s continued domestic success. Coach Bombastor reflected on her first six months with the Blues Ladies:
“When you reflect upon the results, we’ve only dropped two points. I think we could have done better in the game against Leicester, but if we reflect on the bigger picture, then we are delighted.”
“We are in a good position in the league and the Champions League where we have achieved our goals for this part of the season, but we haven’t won anything yet. That is the reality. The really important thing is to be aligned with reality.”
Chelsea FC Women Coach, Sonia Bompastor
“If you look at performances, we need to realise this has been a big transition for the club. For 12 years, Emma Hayes was here, and now there is a new manager and new staff.”
“The transition was big and I think we’ve succeeded, but there is room for improvement. That’s a positive thing because we were able to get really good results, but we still felt like we had room for improvement in different areas.”
“I’ll share my reflections with the staff because now we need to have a clear vision of what we need to achieve our goals in the second half of the season.”
Chelsea’s closest rival is second-on-the-log Manchester City, big six points behind, having lost two matches so far this season. The Citizens also have the top goalscorer in Khadija Shaw, who has netted nine goals.
Arsenal Ladies occupy third place and are on a four-match winning run, boasting the second-highest goal scorer in the league through Alessia Russo, who has scored six goals for her team to add to their winning form and will be hoping that continues in 2025. They are tied with Manchester United Ladies, also on 21 points, but are in fourth place due to their goal difference.
United Women’s coach Marc Skinner spoke on manutd.com after their final league match of the year, where they secured a narrow but important win over bottom-of-the-log Crystal Palace Women. He says the win is something they can build on during the break.
“[It is] a great way to leave ourselves poised to go and attack the start of the new year.”
Speaking of the bottom-dwellers, Palace Ladies have only managed one win in the first half of the season, while 11th-place Leicester isn’t in a much better position, with a single game in the wins column. The two teams need to drastically improve their performances in 2025 to survive the drop at the end of the season.
The league will resume on Friday, 17 January, 2025.
Main Photo Caption: Chelsea FC Women enjoy a substantial lead to top the Barclays Women’s Super League standing at the winter break, the London club has continued in fine form, dropped only two points in their ten games played in the first half of the English 2024-25 season. Photo: ChelseaFCW on X
Photo 2 Caption: Chelsea’s closest rival is Manchester City, trailing by six points, having lost two matches so far in the season. Photo: ManCityWomen on X
Photo 3 Caption: Arsenal and Manchester United are 1 point behind City, with Arsenal ahead courtesy a stronger goal difference. Photo: ArsenalWFC on X
Photo 4 Caption: Chelsea Women’s FC head coach Sonia Bompastor believes the log leaders have improvements to implement. Photo: ChelseaFCW on X
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