WSL Opening Weekend Highlights: Chelsea, City, and Arsenal Players
Chelsea’s wasteful edge, City’s quiet boost and a statement of calm from Arsenal – it was an opening WSL weekend that said plenty about where several USWNT players stand as a new season begins.
Chelsea’s control, Chelsea’s regret
Chelsea had Aston Villa where they wanted them. Territory, tempo, wave after wave of pressure. What they did not have was a killer.
A late Villa equalizer turned what should have been a routine home win into a 1-1 draw and a jarring reminder: dominance without a finish is just decoration.
Alyssa Thompson felt that more than most. Handed the start, she kept finding the right spaces, peeling off shoulders, darting into gaps. The movement was there. The final touch was not. For a first game of the season, the signs were encouraging; for a club suddenly stripped of Millie Bright, Guro Reiten and Sam Kerr, encouragement only goes so far.
Year two at Chelsea will not look like year one for Thompson. Last season she led the team with seven league goals, an impressive return for a debut campaign. That gave her a platform. This one offers responsibility. There is room for her to grow into a central attacking figure, and there is pressure to match.
Her trajectory with the USWNT is already bending upward. Operating from the right wing, she has scored four times for the national team and carved out a convincing case for a roster spot as qualifiers loom. The pattern is clear: she finds dangerous positions, she unsettles back lines, she changes the feel of a game.
Chelsea now need those same runs to end with the kind of ruthless finishes that turn dropped points into title momentum.
Coffey back in the grind
For Sam Coffey, the story of opening weekend was not about rhythm or dominance. It was about the simple act of stepping back over the white line.
The midfielder returned from a knee injury in Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Birmingham City, a solid, businesslike victory that doubled as an important personal checkpoint. Coffey came on for Laura Blindkilde Brown in the 73rd minute, a short cameo that carried more significance than the stopwatch suggested.
Her first WSL campaign had been chopped up by that injury, halting the progress she made after arriving from the Portland Thorns midway through last season. In that brief window, she had grown into her midfield role as City hunted the WSL title, knitting play and offering balance in front of the back line.
Now she is healthy again, and the path in front of her is clear: build on that foundation, reclaim her rhythm, and turn those late substitute minutes into something heavier.
Her return matters well beyond Manchester. Emma Hayes watched the USWNT navigate Brazil without a trusted holding midfielder in Coffey’s mold. That absence was felt. Getting Coffey back on the field is the first box ticked; getting her back to full tempo could put her right in the middle of Hayes’ long-term plans.
Fox the constant in Arsenal’s high line
Emily Fox rarely drops below a seven out of ten. Club or country, she brings the same calm, the same reliability, the same sense that her flank is under control.
Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday fit that pattern neatly. It was not a spectacle. It did not need to be.
Fox started in her usual outside back role and helped lock down three points as Arsenal squeezed high up the pitch. The Gunners held a bold line, daring Brighton to play through them, hunting for turnovers and quick breaks when possession changed hands.
Since arriving in 2024, Fox has become exactly what every title-chasing side craves: a dependable presence who understands the demands at both ends. She times her forward bursts, picks her moments, then snaps back into defensive shape when the ball turns over.
No fireworks, no viral clips, just control. That is her value. On an opening weekend full of rust and nerves, Fox once again looked like the player you build game plans around, not the one you worry about.
A rough start for Tullis-Joyce – and a bigger battle ahead
For Phallon Tullis-Joyce, there was no easing into the season. Her first WSL match with Manchester United turned complicated almost immediately.
She produced a couple of early saves, settling into the rhythm of the game, before a corner in the eighth minute undid it. Caught out of position as the ball swung in, she could only watch as Alanna Kennedy rose to head home for London City Lionesses.
United never fully shook that moment. Their defensive issues resurfaced late, and the punishment was harsh. In the 82nd minute, slack marking in the box gave Daniëlle van de Donk the freedom to improvise a clever finish behind her back, sealing a 2-1 defeat that left United with more questions than answers.
Tullis-Joyce was not solely responsible for the loss, but the performance underlined the fine margins she is living with this season. She is firmly in the conversation for the USWNT’s No. 1 shirt, yet the areas under the microscope are clear: footwork, distribution, composure with the ball at her feet.
Shot-stopping has never been the problem. The next step is proving she can be as secure in possession as she is between the posts. Do that over a full campaign with United, cut out the positional lapses, and she strengthens her claim to start for Hayes.
Fail to do it, and that battle for the top spot in the USWNT goal becomes a lot tighter than she would like.
