At the start of this season, it quickly became clear that Chelsea’s defensive setup could prove to be their undoing. After constructing last year’s treble-winning run on the foundation of a solid backline, Sonia Bompastor opted for a more attacking approach this term. “We want to take more risks in our game,” she explained. “I’m someone who really likes to take the risks. We want to be offensive.”

That shift in philosophy has come at a cost. Chelsea have been allowing significantly more shots, shot-creating actions, and key passes per match since the campaign began. Yet, thanks to Hannah Hampton’s consistent performances in goal, the team has managed to keep their goals conceded relatively low, even as their underlying defensive metrics raise concern. Ironically, the real struggles have emerged at the other end of the pitch, despite adopting a more aggressive style of play.

Chelsea’s issue rarely lies in creating chances. Even during their heavy defeat to Manchester City, the Blues carved out opportunities. The problem has been their lack of composure in front of goal. Based on expected goals (xG) data, no club in the WSL has underperformed as much as Chelsea. They’ve scored 25 goals in 14 matches, despite an xG of 30.35 — a gap of 5.35. Brighton, the next biggest underperformers, have a gap of just 2.1.

Bompastor acknowledged this before Sunday’s loss to City, noting her side had been “a little bit less clinical than last season.” She pointed to injuries as a major factor. “We are missing some top-class players, Mayra Ramirez being one of them,” she said. “I think she was available for most of the games last season and she was involved in the important games. We have some other really good players in the squad but as you know, some of them are coming back from injury. They are trying their best to perform at their best level but we have to be fair with them. You also need time to recover from not playing for two years, if we take the example with Sam Kerr. That’s probably one of the explanations.”

Lauren James has also spent significant time out injured, while Aggie Beever-Jones is managing an ankle problem and Catarina Macario has yet to feature in 2026. After Ramirez was ruled out until at least 2026 last September, Chelsea moved swiftly before the transfer deadline, signing 21-year-old forward Alyssa Thompson. She has impressed, leading the team in WSL goals with five, but remains a player developing her game. With uncertainty surrounding the futures of Kerr and Macario, and Beever-Jones out of contract soon, questions were raised over whether Bompastor might seek another forward addition in the transfer window closing Tuesday.

When Kerr suffered an ACL injury in January 2024, Chelsea broke their transfer record to bring in Ramirez — a move that proved vital when Mia Fishel, her backup, sustained the same injury a month later. Reflecting on the club’s current situation, Bompastor admitted, “Without making too many comments on that, I would have liked to have been in a better place from the last transfer window.”

To some, Bompastor’s repeated remarks about depth might seem surprising, given Chelsea’s reputation for having one of the strongest squads in women’s football. Yet, compared to previous seasons, this roster feels slightly thinner, with greater reliance on young, inexperienced players in critical fixtures. “A lot of people talk about Chelsea being an example of having depth in the squad and of having players with different profiles they can bring into the game. Right now, I don’t think we are in that place,” Bompastor reiterated. “I’m not saying that explains everything, but being in that position probably doesn’t help.”

She added, “As a manager I will always accept responsibility for the results of this team, so I need to focus also on what the solutions are for me to be in a much better place. It’s tough because I have to focus on the players available, but when you have many games in a row, you can’t rotate as much as you want and you can’t bring in the exact profile you want in the game.” When asked if Chelsea could still make a signing before the deadline, she responded, “We’ll see.”

This season’s campaign has stripped Chelsea of the aura of inevitability that defined them in recent years. In the previous season, 10 of their 19 league victories were by a single goal, with five of those decisive strikes coming after the 80th minute. This year, after 14 of 22 WSL matches, they’ve won just three one-goal games and scored only twice beyond the 80th minute — both stoppage-time goals from Kerr that merely extended existing leads. “If you reflect from last season, even when we were winning a lot of games, sometimes the margins were really fine and we were able to sometimes score in the last minutes of the game. This season, things are probably not going the same way,” Bompastor admitted.

After Sunday’s defeat, questions turned to Bompastor’s future. With the WSL title now out of reach and qualification for the Champions League becoming the main objective, she was asked how confident she felt about remaining in charge for next weekend’s clash against Tottenham. Given her success last season and Chelsea’s continued presence in the FA Cup, League Cup, and Champions League, her departure would be a major shock.

“I’m really confident in terms of someone who is really honest,” she began, her tone firm but reflective. Yet as she continued, that confidence seemed to waver slightly. “If people think I’m not the right person to stay for this job at the club, I’ll be happy to go if they think that’s the right thing. But I will never give up. I know football, sometimes it happens, you can be in this situation. I always fight. But again, the institution of Chelsea is a lot more important than myself.”

Despite their current struggles, Chelsea still have much to fight for. With three trophies — including the long-coveted Champions League title — still up for grabs, Bompastor and her players have the chance to turn their season around. But to do so, they must rediscover their edge quickly. After six years of dominance, Chelsea’s WSL crown is slipping away. What happens next will show whether this team can recover from a challenge they’ve rarely had to face: failure.