USWNT Stars Shine in WSL: Chelsea, City, and United Insights
Chelsea learn an old lesson the hard way
Chelsea opened the season with the ball, the territory and the tempo. They walked away with almost nothing.
A 1-1 draw with Aston Villa felt less like a point earned and more like two thrown away, as a late equalizer punished a Chelsea side that dominated but failed to kill the game. The pattern was familiar: sustained pressure, flowing moves, promising positions. The finish? Missing at the key moments.
Alyssa Thompson lived that story in microcosm. Handed a start, she found the spaces you want your wide forward to find, peeled off shoulders, attacked gaps, and popped up in dangerous areas. The one thing that didn’t arrive was the final touch.
Chelsea can’t afford that to be a theme. Not this year.
With Millie Bright, Guro Reiten and Sam Kerr gone, the squad has been stripped of some of its biggest personalities and most reliable end product. That creates opportunity, but it also creates a vacuum. Thompson sits right in the middle of that tension.
She gave herself a platform last season, finishing as Chelsea’s top league scorer with seven goals in her debut WSL campaign. That’s not a cameo; that’s a statement. Now the standard shifts. Seven is no longer a breakthrough tally. It’s the baseline.
The club needs her to turn promise into ruthlessness. The USWNT might already be seeing that version of Thompson.
Thompson’s USWNT rise, Chelsea’s demand
On the international stage, Thompson’s grip on a USWNT place has tightened heading into qualifiers. Stationed on the right wing, she has delivered four goals for the national team and shown the kind of direct, decisive edge that tilts matches.
That output strengthens her case for a roster spot under Emma Hayes. It also raises expectations back in London. If she can slice through defenses for the United States, Chelsea will expect the same cold efficiency in front of goal.
The runs are there. The timing is there. The positions are there. The next step is simple and brutal: turn those moments into goals, week after week. Chelsea’s season may depend on it.
Coffey’s quiet milestone in City blue
For Sam Coffey, the opening weekend wasn’t about headlines. It was about a return.
Her last WSL campaign had been cut short by a knee injury, an untimely blow that also ruled her out of the USWNT’s June friendlies. On the first weekend of the new season, she finally stepped back onto the pitch in Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Birmingham City.
Coffey entered in the 73rd minute, replacing Laura Blindkilde Brown. It was a short shift, but an important one. The American midfielder’s start to life in England had been stop-start since she arrived from the Portland Thorns midway through last season. Even so, she had grown steadily into her role as City pushed toward the WSL title.
Now she has something she hasn’t had in months: a clean slate and a healthy body.
City know what she can offer as a controlling presence in midfield. The WSL’s pace and physicality suit her range of passing and positional discipline. If she strings together a run of games, that “encouraging step” could quickly turn into a central role in a title chase.
Hayes watches Coffey’s return with interest
Coffey’s comeback doesn’t just matter in Manchester. It matters in Chicago, Kansas City, and every other USWNT stop on the calendar.
Her absence left Emma Hayes without a trusted holding midfielder against Brazil, a gap that forced tactical reshuffles and underlined how thin the depth chart can look in that role. Coffey has the profile Hayes values: reliable in front of the back line, tidy in possession, able to dictate tempo without drama.
Getting back on the field is the first box ticked. The next is rhythm. If Coffey finds it, she could move straight back to the center of Hayes’ plans, both for the WSL and the international stage.
Fox steady as ever in Arsenal’s high-wire act
Some players spike and dip with form. Emily Fox rarely does.
Arsenal’s season opener against Brighton & Hove Albion was another reminder of that reliability. It ended 1-0 to the Gunners, a tight scoreline in a match where their defensive structure and aggression without the ball did most of the talking.
Fox started in her usual outside back role and slotted into a high line that asked a lot of its defenders. Arsenal squeezed up the pitch, hunting for turnovers and looking to spring forward in transition whenever the ball broke their way. It’s a system that can expose full-backs if they switch off for even a moment. Fox didn’t.
Since joining Arsenal in 2024, she has become one of those players coaches build around without needing to say it out loud. She balances her defensive duties with a willingness to push forward, offering width and support without losing track of her primary job.
This wasn’t a night for highlight reels or viral clips. That’s exactly why it suited her. Fox doesn’t need chaos to influence a game. She just needs 90 minutes.
Tullis-Joyce’s rough opener and a bigger battle in goal
Phallon Tullis-Joyce’s WSL season barely had time to settle before it turned awkward.
In Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat to London City Lionesses, the goalkeeper found herself dragged into a chaotic afternoon. She made a handful of early saves, looked sharp enough, and then came the eighth minute.
A corner swung in, Alanna Kennedy rose, and Tullis-Joyce was caught out of position as the header flew in. One lapse, one punishment.
United never truly tightened up. With the game still in the balance late on, defensive lapses surfaced again. In the 82nd minute, loose marking inside the box gave Daniëlle van de Donk the space she needed to improvise a cheeky finish behind her back. It was a clever goal from the attacker, a nightmare for a defense that had switched off twice and paid twice.
The 2-1 loss leaves United with a long list of corrections to make and gives Tullis-Joyce an early reminder of how unforgiving this league can be.
USWNT stakes for Tullis-Joyce
For Tullis-Joyce, this season isn’t just about climbing the table with United. It’s about a shirt with a crest and a number on the back: No. 1 for the USWNT.
She is firmly in the conversation for that role, but the debate doesn’t end with shot-stopping. Her reflexes and shot-saving ability have never been in doubt. The questions sit at her feet.
Footwork. Distribution. Composure when building from the back. These are the areas she needs to sharpen to convince Hayes she can anchor a possession-based side at international level.
A strong WSL campaign would go a long way. If she can show that she’s as reliable with the ball at her feet as she is when diving to her left or right, the argument for a starting role becomes far more compelling. If not, she risks watching the next big USWNT cycle unfold from the bench.
The margins are thin, the stakes are high, and the season has only just begun.
