A blog of two halves

Chelsea kicked off the restart to the Premier League with a convincing home win over Bournemouth.

Victory in Albania last week secured Chelsea Women’s place in the knockout phase of the Women’s Champions League.

Chelsea hang on against a spirited Reading side to ensure they will stay top going into the new year.

After all the flash, bang, wallop of the World Cup quarter-finals in Qatar, Chelsea Women’s tie against Reading at Kingsmeadow on Sunday might seem a bit of a damp squib.

Teams in first and last place meet up this weekend as Chelsea Women head up the M1 to Leicester.

Manager Emma Hayes warned that while the Spanish side were relative newcomers, they had knocked Man City out of the competition in the last two seasons.

It never rains but it pours...

Chelsea Women go into the international break with smiles on their faces after a 3-1 away win against Man United last Sunday

She’s back! Thirty seconds before the Villa game kicked off at the weekend, Emma Hayes appeared quietly and took a seat at the back of Kingsmeadow's west stand.

Chelsea's eight-goal demolition of Albanian champions Vllaznia at Kingsmeadow under the floodlights on Wednesday night was the perfect pick-me-up for recuperating Blues manager Emma Hayes.