The Blues began with an aggressive start, pressing high and firing shots towards the Aston Villa goal. And our approach paid off when we won the ball back high up the pitch, Ellie Carpenter picking out James with a pass before the no. 10 opened our account with an emphatic finish high into the net from the left-hand side.

Multiple chances followed in the second half, the best of which saw Keira Walsh desperately unlucky not to score a wonder goal from outside of the area, but she was thwarted by the finest of margins when the ball bounced out off the underside of the bar.

Villa scored with one of their three shots on target when the ball pinged around the penalty area and took an unlucky bounce off Buurman, giving us just ten minutes to find a response. Only a fantastic save from the visiting goalkeeper kept James from netting her second, leaving us with only a point from our opening WSL match of the campaign.

Hot out of the blocks

Sonia Bompastor took the opportunity to rotate her side after our midweek trip to face Real Sociedad, bringing Buurman, Sjoeke Nusken, Katie McCabe and Alyssa Thompson into the starting XI in place of Naomi Girma, Kadeisha Buchanan, Sandy Baltimore and Lexi Potter, who all began the match on the substitutes' bench.

The Blues were lively right from the start, and with only three minutes on the clock, Lauren James dribbled the ball into space in the penalty area before pulling her shot just wide of the left-hand post. On her 100th appearance for Chelsea, Aggie Beever-Jones then tried a clever backheeled attempt close to the goalkeeper, which didn't quite come off.

Then, after some neat passing around the box, Lucy Bronze responded to the shouts of 'shoot' from outside the penalty area and forced a fingertip save from Akane Okuma as the attempt went over the bar.

Quick breakthrough

As our visitors opted to play the ball out from the back, the Blues sprang into action with an intense press, allowing Ellie Carpenter to win the ball back high up the pitch.

Feeding the ball to James, our number 10 dribbled towards goal on the left-hand side before she unleashed a wicked left-footed shot from a tight angle into the back of the net. It was a moment of sublime individual skill, but also a just reward for the way in which we had started the match.

Beever-Jones then showed real vision to spot an opportunity to beat the goalkeeper when she attempted an audacious chip from the left corner of the box, only to see her attempt fly just over the top-right corner of the crossbar.

The match settled into a rhythm as Chelsea's initial ruthless intensity dropped slightly, but we had a couple more chances to add to the scoreline before the interval when Thompson's shot went just wide of the far post, and Wieke Kaptein saw her attempt blocked by a superb tackle near the goal line.

Keeping up the pressure

In the second half, the Blues remained in control. After an hour, we had taken 40 touches in the Villa penalty area as opposed to their two touches in ours. We looked to add to the lead when a well-worked set piece 40 yards from goal fashioned a chance for James to shoot from outside the box, but this time her attempt went high of the target.

Carpenter then fired a powerful shot on goal, which Okuma did well to tip round the post, and the goalkeeper was on hand once more to gather an effort from Beever-Jones.

Next to try her luck was Walsh, and after scoring from range in midweek against Real Sociedad, she blasted a shot with such ferocity that the ball bounced down off the underside of the crossbar and away from danger with the goalkeeper already beaten.

Villa draw level

We continued to press hard for our second goal of the afternoon. James played a wonderful crossfield ball to Carpenter, who contorted her body to get her shot away before the attempt trickled wide. Then McCabe, who had been dangerous all afternoon, put a pinpoint cross into the far post and Beever-Jones had the ball in the net, only to be judged as offside.

After so much domination, one moment from Villa changed the look of the contest. As the ball pinged around the box, an unlucky ricochet off Buurman took the ball over Hannah Hampton and across the line to level the scores with only 10 minutes to play.

The Blues fought hard, and when Lucy Bronze played in a dangerous cross, only a fantastic save from Okuma could keep James from scoring her second of the afternoon.

This was a good performance from Chelsea with 60 entries into the final third, 57 touches in the opposition box and 34 shots on goal. A little bit of luck and some clinical finishing was lacking on the day, as Villa's debutant goalkeeper pulled off some excellent saves. We move forward to Manchester United with plenty of positives to take from our opening league match.

What it means...

We kick off our 2026/27 WSL campaign with a point on the board.

Up next...

We head north to face Manchester United in the WSL next Sunday, with kick-off set for noon.

The teams

Chelsea: Hampton, Carpenter, Buurman, Bronze (c), McCabe, Walsh, Nusken, Kaptein (Baltimore 82), James, Thompson, Beever-Jones
Unused substitutes: Peng, Spencer, Girma, Dragoni, Las, Hamano, Buchanan, Potter, Sarwie
Scorers: James 11

Aston Villa: Okuma, Harviken, Kielland, Hijkata (Taylor 59), Wilms, Parker, Maritz, Grant (Deslandes 70), Vansgaard (Mullett 70), Kendall (c) (Patten 78), McAulay (Murphy 70)
Unused substitutes: Kelly, Scott
Booked: Taylor 70
Scorers: Buurman (OG 79)
Referee: William Davis