‘They’ll be motivated coming to Stamford Bridge’, warns Sonia Bompastor ahead of Chelsea’s first WSL fixture against London City Lionesses.
Coming off an international break, Chelsea welcome their fans back to Stamford Bridge after an almost perfect start to their Women’s Super League (WSL) campaign, as they sit top of the table while having only dropped two points.
Their opponents this weekend — London City Lionesses — are in fine form themselves, having won three of their previous four WSL games.
Fresh faces in Bompastor’s Chelsea squad
Bompastor confirmed that US international Naomi Girma will make her first appearance in the squad this season on Saturday after suffering a calf injury in pre-season. She said of the centre back, “she is a top-class player and we want all the top-class players on the pitch. I’m hoping she can stay on the pitch as long as possible.”
She also spoke positively of Sam Kerr’s role for Australia over the break, as she started in games against England and Wales, getting important minutes in her legs after a significant time out.
The only negative news for Chelsea fans was that Lauren James has suffered a slight setback, but will return in “a few weeks.”
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A new London rival for Chelsea
London City Lionesses have got everyone talking this season. They made a splash over the summer after making 16 signings following their promotion from WSL 2, and Bompastor took the opportunity to praise them and their owner for bringing excitement to the league.
“It’s nice to play against London City [Lionesses], the new team in the league. They’ve shown their ambition by changing almost all of the squad coming into this new league. I’m excited for the game, I know they’ll be motivated coming to Stamford Bridge.”
“It will be good to have as many teams as possible competing in this league against us. I know Michele Kang well, and I know she has ambition, so I’m certain that in the future, she will bring a strong team to this league with this club.
“Having owners who are ambitious and want to invest in the women’s game is something really positive and we can only applaud that.”
Bompastor actually has a brief history with Lionesses boss Jocelyn Prêcheur as they managed Lyon and PSG respectively, so both know the other very well. While most teams look to defend strongly and sit back against the Champions, Bompastor knows that her opponents will be looking to take the game to them.
“I know the coach for them, and he likes to play football. He’ll keep the same philosophy as he did against City, United, and Arsenal. If you reflect on their results, they had a good start to the season and they played strong opponents. They have good quality in the team and good quality individuals, and know they can score against any team.”
Bompastor calls for ruthlessness from the Blues
One criticism aimed at this Chelsea side so far this season has been their form in front of goal. She didn’t hide from this and stressed the importance of being efficient in front of goal when they create chances, especially with such tough opposition ahead.
“We want to keep the same philosophy as we have in our previous games. Our goal is to control and dominate every game that we play, so tomorrow will be no different. I’m hoping we are able to create as much as we did in our last games in the league against Tottenham and Paris FC in the Champions League.
The only thing we need to be careful of is to be efficient and clinical in front of the goal. Against Paris, we were able to score quickly, which gives you freedom to manage the game in a different way, so for us it’s important when we are able to create that we are also efficient in the game.”