Chelsea began life after Emma Hayes with a 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa on the first day of the 2024/25 WSL season.New manager Sonia Bampastor's first competitive match in charge of the Blues ended

LONDON (Reuters) -Reigning Women's Super League champions Chelsea got their campaign off to a winning start, beating Aston Villa 1-0 at home as a goal from Johanna Rytting Kaneryd gave new coach Sonia Bompastor all three points in her first league game in charge.

Chelsea at last gain some territory when Reiten is pulled down. 80 min: Some touchline histrionics from Robert de Pauw. His team have been pretty impressive and well organised. 78 min: Reiten goes in to come back out again but Chelsea fail to get the ball into the centre.

Sonia Bompastor led Chelsea to victory in her first WSL match in charge as they narrowly beat Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow.

Chelsea begin life under Sonia Bompastor with nervy opening Women's Super League win over Aston Villa - Johanna Rytting Kaneryd’s first-half goal proved enough for three points at Kingsmeadow

The club itself has been carved out from underneath the Chelsea men’s umbrella, and is now its own separate entity, on and off the pitch. But, as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.