James had been influential as the Blues raced into a four-goal lead inside the opening 19 minutes at The Valley, but pulled up while running for a through ball and was replaced by Erin Cuthbert shortly after the half-hour mark.

Speaking after the game, Bompastor admitted it was too early to determine the severity of the injury.

She said: 'It is difficult to say. I can only say it's her hamstring and we'll assess her later to have more detailed information. We'll probably need to assess her tomorrow.

'I think it's her hamstring, so we'll see what happens from tomorrow.'

Despite that setback, there were plenty of positives for our head coach, including a memorable afternoon for Nathalie Bjorn.

The Swedish defender captained the Blues on her first WSL start since November 2025 and marked her return with a towering header to open the scoring inside three minutes.

'Today I'm really pleased for Nat Bjorn,' said Bompastor.

'She's been injured for so long and she hasn't played much football in the past year. So I think for her to start the game and score an early goal was a big boost for her confidence, so it's nice.'

Another player who enjoyed a special moment was Giulia Dragoni, who came off the bench to score her first competitive Chelsea goal with a superb finish in the 66th minute.

The young Italian was visibly emotional after finding the net, and Bompastor believes her dedication behind the scenes made the moment particularly rewarding.

Bompastor said: 'I think the emotion after the goal comes from the fact that she's been working really, really hard.

'She's a young talent. She had the opportunity to show that today when she came on, but also with the goal she scored.

'It's a great goal. The competition is high right now in the squad and she needs to stay patient. Even if today was a good 30 minutes on the pitch for her, a really positive performance, that's the only thing she can control.

'She can keep doing that to give me some headaches!'