Lauren James is ready to dominate the WSL - and Women's World Cup - as Chelsea star aims to avoid another injury-hit season

Chelsea's centre-forward problem plagued them for most of what was a disappointing 2025-26 season. Sam Kerr came into the campaign having only just recovered from an ACL injury, limiting her game time for the first few months; Mayra Ramirez would end up missing the entire season, owing to a hamstring issue picked up in pre-season; while niggling injuries to both Catarina Macario and Aggie Beever-Jones caused further headaches for Bompastor.

The plan was to sort it out this summer. Khadija Shaw, Felicia Schroder and Salma Paralluelo were all unsuccessfully pursued before Melvine Malard, familiar to Bompastor from her Lyon days, joined from Manchester United. But an injury to the France international, and Ramirez's continued absence, means Chelsea are not far off where they were last year right now.

Enter James. She was deployed as a false nine at times last season, to varying degrees of success, and Sunday's win suggested that Bompastor, her staff and her players have all learned from those previous instances, providing the perfect supporting cast to complement James' roaming.

"I think we all know LJ is probably not a real No.9 and she likes to drop and have the ball to feet," Bompastor said on Sunday. "So it's important when we play with LJ as a No.9 to have these two No.10s who are in the pocket, but also make the penetrating runs. That's why it's important for us also when we decide the profiles who are playing around her to pay attention to that. That's important, to have this threat behind the backline, because I think today we could exploit the space behind the backline for United and we were quite good at doing that."

It served to give an air of unpredictability to Chelsea, too, something Bompastor believes is "important". "When you can have the players who are still impacting the game no matter what is happening on the pitch, I think it's even better," she added.

That is James to a tee. Whether off the right, the left, as a false nine or in the No.10 position, she is always going to have an influence on the game, such is her otherworldly talent. It's what compelled her brother, Chelsea men's captain, Reece, to take to X a few years back and declare her "the best women's footballer in the world" already, despite her being just 21 years old at the time and only a couple of months separated from her senior England debut. "[She] will be for the next 10-15 years, without doubt," he added. "She’s technically better than some [Premier League] players."

While he may be biased, it's easy to see why he believes as much. James' raw talent and technical quality is among the very best in the women's game, a fact few would dispute. But injuries have prevented her from being able to showcase what she can do on the biggest stages at a consistent rate.

James missed more than three months last season, while she endured two three-month spells on the sidelines the campaign prior. It's not allowed her to demonstrate with aplomb that dominant, world-class quality she has.

The hope will be that this season is different. She's fit, she's firing and she provides the ability to win any game for club and country. That's because James has a mix of inventiveness and the ability to execute the final ball to match it; she has strength, agility and lightning quick feet; she can be deadly with her right or her left; and, in recent times, she's added off-ball application and a defensive work ethic that is as applaudable as it is useful.

As Chelsea aim to bounce back from their worst WSL season in seven years, and make further strides towards their dream of Women's Champions League glory, and as England look to go one better in the 2027 Women's World Cup after finishing as runners-up three years ago, James will be key. If she can stay fit, the chances of triumph for glory and country are massive, as are her own chances of fulfilling her brother's lofty but justifiable prophecy.