Chelsea’s New Reality: Alyssa Thompson’s Challenge in Season Opener
Chelsea’s new reality arrived with a sting on opening weekend. Ninety minutes of control, wave after wave of pressure, and still the same old warning flashing in the background: if you don’t finish, you don’t win. Aston Villa’s late equalizer turned a dominant display into a 1-1 draw and a flat start to the season.
Alyssa Thompson lived that lesson in real time.
Given the start, she drifted into the pockets you want your forward in, peeled off shoulders, found lanes, saw the goal. What she didn’t find was the net. The positions were promising; the end product was not. For year two at Chelsea, that gap is the entire story.
With Millie Bright, Guro Reiten and Sam Kerr gone, the squad suddenly has space and responsibility where there used to be certainty. Thompson sits right in the middle of that shift. She led Chelsea with seven league goals in her debut campaign, a strong, statement-making foundation in a new league. Now the bar moves. Same shirt, very different landscape.
This is no longer about a teenager “settling in.” It’s about whether she can turn half-chances into ruthless finishes for a side that can’t lean on Kerr’s inevitability anymore. The runs are there. The instincts are there. Chelsea now needs the final touch that separates a good performance from three points.
On the international stage, her trajectory looks steadier. Thompson has carved out a role on the right wing for the USWNT, scoring four times and tightening her grip on a roster spot ahead of qualifiers. She stretches defenses, she drives at fullbacks, she forces mistakes. The next step at club level is obvious: those same dangerous positions have to end with the ball in the back of the net, not just gasps from the stands.
Coffey steps back into the fight
For Sam Coffey, opening weekend wasn’t about rhythm or dominance. It was about stepping over the white line again.
A knee injury cut short her last WSL season and kept her out of the USWNT’s June friendlies. On Sunday, she finally returned, coming off the bench in the 73rd minute of Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Birmingham City, replacing Laura Blindkilde Brown. It was a brief outing, but an important one.
Coffey arrived from the Portland Thorns midway through last season and gradually grew into her role at the heart of City’s midfield as they chased the WSL title. She read passing lanes, shielded the back line, and gave City’s attackers a platform. Then the injury halted everything.
Now she has her starting point again.
Her comeback matters in Manchester, but it also echoes across the Atlantic. Emma Hayes watched the USWNT navigate Brazil without a trusted holding midfielder like Coffey. That absence showed. Getting back on the pitch is only step one; finding her tempo, her bite in the tackle, and her range of passing could put her right back in the middle of Hayes’ plans.
If she strings together weeks of clean, authoritative performances, the conversation around the USWNT’s defensive midfield spot changes quickly.
Fox, steady as ever
Some players spike and dip. Emily Fox rarely does either. She just plays well.
Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion fit the pattern. Fox started in her usual outside back role and delivered exactly what her manager and teammates have come to expect: reliability.
Arsenal held a high line, squeezed the pitch, and hunted the ball back to spring transitions. That kind of setup can expose a fullback who hesitates or misreads a press. Fox did neither. She stepped in, recovered when needed, and picked her moments to push forward.
Since joining Arsenal in 2024, she has become one of those players you build around without ever needing to announce it. She balances her defensive work with measured surges up the flank, offering width without abandoning her responsibilities. This wasn’t a highlight-reel afternoon, and that’s precisely the point. Fox’s value lies in the games that don’t scream for attention but quietly tilt toward her team.
You don’t talk about her much when she plays; you notice when she doesn’t.
A rough start for Tullis-Joyce
Phallon Tullis-Joyce’s WSL season started with the kind of complication goalkeepers dread: early action, early error.
She made a couple of saves to settle in for Manchester United, but in the eighth minute she was caught out of position on a corner, and Alanna Kennedy punished the lapse with a header for London City Lionesses. From there, United never quite shook the nerves.
The pattern repeated late. In the 82nd minute, loose marking in the box left Daniëlle van de Donk free to improvise a cheeky finish behind her back, sealing a 2-1 defeat. United’s defending will take most of the criticism, yet for Tullis-Joyce the film session will be just as uncomfortable. Positioning, communication, command of the area — all under the microscope.
This season carries a different weight for her. She isn’t just fighting for points with United; she’s fighting for the USWNT’s No. 1 shirt. Her shot-stopping has always drawn attention, but Hayes will demand more than reflexes. Footwork. Distribution. Composure when building from the back. Those are the details that separate a starter from a backup at international level.
If Tullis-Joyce can match her saves with calm, precise work at her feet over the coming months, she forces a decision. If she can’t, that opening weekend misstep might feel like the warning sign she couldn’t afford to ignore.
