A blog of two halves

Bridge gets ready for the Spurs derby

Chelsea's England stars were whisked straight back into training with their Chelsea teammates after the Lionesses’ disappointing midweek defeat to the Netherlands.

27 September 2023
By Tim Harrison
Categories:
Chelsea FC
Image 1

Chelsea and England defender Millie Bright (left) during the UEFA Womens Nations League match against Holland. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

England stars Millie Bright, Jess Carter and Niamh Charles were whisked straight back into training with their Chelsea teammates after the Lionesses’ disappointing midweek defeat to the Netherlands.

They’re now fully focused on the big domestic match this weekend as Chelsea face Spurs at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening.

It marks the start of the new Women’s Super League season, with 38,000 expected to attend the London derby.

For the women’s manager, Emma Hayes, the pressure is on to make a positive start to the season, using this weekend’s fixture as a springboard in the campaign to retain the league title and mount a full assault on Europe.

The match against Tottenham is set against an uncomfortable pattern of hesitant beginnings as, inexplicably, for the last two or three years Chelsea have been slow out of the blocks.

Blues players Erin Cuthbert and American striker (and new No9) Catarina Macario were around at the half-time interval of Chelsea’s men’s match against Villa last weekend, and said they were greatly looking forward to playing on a big stage.

Yet despite Macario’s presence, Hayes is still likely to pair Sam Kerr and Fran Kirby up front together, after a long injury-driven gap. Hayes knows that when the ‘Special K’ relationship is properly integrated, everything is usually right with the world.

Looking on

Among the crowd will be a handful of players from Chelsea’s beleaguered men’s team, still smarting after another 1-0 home defeat, this time to Aston Villa.

What they will be hoping for is some guidance about the basic task of getting the football in the opponents’ net... a skill apparently missing after three league blanks on the trot.

And while Hayes feels sympathy for the current predicament of Morrie Pochettino at the helm of the men’s team, her focus is on getting three points against a Tottenham team spearheaded by former fans’ favourite Beth England.

Click here for tickets for the Blues WSL fixture against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Sunday 1 October, kick-off 5.30pm.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

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Tim Harrison

Tim is our Chelsea FC blogger.

He also writes our Shepherds Bush Cricket Club match reports during the football close season.

Tim has been writing Chelsea match reports since the late 1980s for newspapers and, more recently, websites.

When he first reported on the Blues, the press box was a metal cage suspended over the lip of the old west stand - and you reached it via a precarious walkway over the heads of the fans.

But he has been a Chelsea fan since his father took an excited seven-year-old to watch Chelsea v Manchester United in the mid 1960s... and covered his ears every time the chanting got too ripe.

In July 2005 he wrote The Rough Guide to Chelsea, published by Penguin, which sold 15,000 copies.

His favourite player of all time is Charlie Cooke, the mazy winger who lit up Chelsea's left wing in the 60s and 70s.

When he isn't watching the Blues, Tim acts, paints, writes and researches local history.

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