Chelsea Women have had a strangehold over the Women’s Super League for some time now.
The Blues have won the past six league titles, the best run in England’s top flight since Arsenal Women won nine on the trot between 2003-04 and 2012.
Last season, they stastically the best champions in the WSL era. They achieved the most points in a single season (60), and a 12-point gap over second-placed Arsenal, and were the first team to go unbeaten in a 22-match campaign.
But Chelsea went into the final international break of 2025 second, trailing Manchester City by three points. They’ve already failed to win as many matches after nine games this season, as they did in the entirety of 2024-25.
Which begs the question. Are Chelsea facing an uphill task to retain their crown?
In this article, we’ll cover:
Chelsea’s main issue
Chelsea’s biggest problem so far this season has been their goalscoring. The Blues have netted 16 goals in their nine WSL games, the fewest of the teams in the so-called Big Four (joined by Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal).
This is despite the Blues sitting second-highest for shots (excluding blocks) with 108 — only trailing Man City’s 118. Chelsea rank the lowest of the four teams for shot accuracy (44.44%) and conversion rate (14.81%). They’ve also hit the woodwork the joint-most times with five, alongside Man City. But Man City lead in a lot of the other metrics. So Chelsea can’t completely blame bad luck. It’s just bad finishing.
Sonia Bompastor’s side have posted 19.2 Expected Goals in the WSL this season, second only to Man City’s 21.7. But, as mentioned, they’ve only scored 16 goals. And one of those was an own goal in the 3-1 win over Aston Villa early in the campaign. So, the Blues have an xG underperformance of -4.2 — Only West Ham United (-4.9) have fared worse in the WSL, and the Hammers are second from bottom.
Chelsea’s average of 1.78 goals per game so far this season is also their lowest in a single campaign since 2014 (1.64). In Bompastor’s first season, the Blues averaged 2.55 goals per game. Even that was a decline on their successes in front of goal under Emma Hayes. But Bompastor has had rotten luck with injuries, missing Sam Kerr for her entire first season, as well as fitness issues for Mayra Ramirez and Lauren James.
Aggie Beever-Jones was Chelsea’s top scorer in the WSL last season, with nine goals. The 22-year-old has scored four goals this season, but they all came in the first four matches of the campaign. Wieke Kaptein, Alyssa Thompson and Sam Kerr are all next with two goals each. Kaptein has done her bit creatively too, with three assists. But, again, Chelsea have missed James and still haven’t replaced the magic of Ji So-yun.
Big game struggles
One of the biggest reasons for Chelsea’s comfortable title win last season was their command of the Big Four. The Blues won all six league games against Arsenal, Man City and Man Utd, becoming the first team to achieve that feat.
It was a marked improvement from the 2023-24 campaign, with Chelsea taking 10 points from a possible 18. They were thrashed by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and only took one point from two games against Man City.
The table below shows Chelsea’s record against the Big Four since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, when Man Utd were promoted to the WSL. The 2023-24 campaign is the only full campaign that Chelsea haven’t averaged more than two points per game against their Big Four opponents. Chelsea won that league title on goal difference, thanks to a dramatic finish and dropped points elsewhere.
| Season | Chelsea total points | Chelsea points per game |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 13 | 2.6 |
| 2020-21 | 12 | 2 |
| 2021-22 | 13 | 2.17 |
| 2022-23 | 13 | 2.17 |
| 2023-24 | 10 | 1.67 |
| 2024-25 | 18 | 3 |
| 2025-26 (so far) | 5 | 1.67 |
And they’re on that same trajectory at the bottom. Chelsea started the 2025-26 season with a win over Man City at Stamford Bridge. But they have since dropped points from winning positions to draw against both Man Utd and Arsenal. And they were fortunate in the draw with Arsenal, a game riddled with poor refereeing decisions.
If Chelsea were to continue on this path, there’s a chance they may need to rely on other teams doing them a favour against their closest challengers.
The challengers
Man City rebounded from their opening-day defeat to Chelsea to win their next eight matches. It sees them three points clear at the top of the table. And it’s a massive improvement from last season, when Man City finished fourth, some 17 points behind Chelsea.
Man City have the benefit of not playing in the Champions League this season. So their midweeks at crucial points later in the campaign could be freer, should Chelsea go far in the Champions League. It was an advantage Man City had in 2023-24, and they only lost the WSL title on goal difference. A dramatic 2-1 defeat to Arsenal, combined with Chelsea then scoring 15 goals in their final three games, saw the Blues pip them at the post.
Last season, Arsenal’s slow start ended their title hopes before they had even begun. And more dropped points came towards the end, as Arsenal prioritised the Champions League. Which no one will say was a bad decision, considering they won the trophy for the second time.
| Season | Runners-up | Participating in Europe (knocked out in) | Chelsea’s gap to second |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Man City | Yes (October) | 0.10 points per game |
| 2020-21 | Man City | Yes (March) | 2 points |
| 2021-22 | Arsenal | Yes (March) | 3 points |
| 2022-23 | Man Utd | No | 2 points |
| 2023-24 | Man City | No | +7 goal difference |
| 2024-25 | Arsenal | Yes (May/Winners) | 12 points |
And last season was the anomaly. Chelsea’s other five titles in their six-season streak have all come down to the final day. Once even came down to the spreadsheets, with Chelsea awarded the 2019-20 curtailed season on points per game, having taken 39 from 15 matches, compared to Man City’s 40 from 16.
What is less of an anomaly, though, is the European participation of Chelsea’s closest rivals. In both 2022-23 and 2023-24, the WSL runners-up had no European football to contest later in the campaign. And they were the joint-closest gaps in full seasons.
In 2021-22, when Chelsea finished three points clear of Arsenal, the Gunners were knocked out of the Champions League in March — leaving them April and May clear, while Chelsea were still involved. It was the same in 2020-21 with Man City. And when Chelsea won the title on PPG, Man City were knocked out of the Champions League in October, when the competition was stick a straight knockout format.
So there are reasons for Chelsea fans to be fearful of their dominance coming to an end in 2025-26.