Can anyone end Chelsea's dynasty? Blues are still miles ahead of WSL chasing pack - and will only get better

This was supposed to be Chelsea’s ‘transition’ season. Moving from the Hayes era to that of Bompastor while bidding farewell to several key first-team players, such as Fran Kirby, Jess Carter and Ann-Katrin Berger, this was supposed to be the season in which their WSL title was at its most vulnerable.

With all the talk about how Bompastor, a Champions League winner as a player and a manger, could help Chelsea get over the line in Europe, it felt like that could take up more of the focus even, perhaps, when it got to the business end of the season.

But in the end, all that talk was wildly misplaced, with the Blues able to wrap up their sixth-straight WSL title with remarkable comfort.

Why were they able to do so? The strength of their squad is a big reason. Bompastor has spoken time and again about the importance of depth this season, the kind of which is so much greater than all of their domestic rivals.

It’s allowed Chelsea’s team to stay fresh throughout a demanding campaign which has also seen them win the League Cup, reach the Champions League semi-finals and the FA Cup final, adding plenty to their calendar.

That has been amid a number of injuries, too. Sam Kerr, Sophie Ingle, Kadeisha Buchanan and Mia Fishel have all missed either the entire season or most of it because of ACL setbacks, leaving the Blues without key players down the spine of the team. Then, the likes of Naomi Girma, Niamh Charles, Maelys Mpome, Erin Cuthbert, Guro Reiten, Lauren James and Sandy Baltimore have all had spells on the sidelines this term, with Chelsea often thin at centre-back in particular.

That they have battled through those obstacles is not just a nod to the depth of the squad, but the talent and character of those who have stepped up when needed.

Sometimes it does feel like the Blues’ big squad and significant investment is used as a stick to beat them with. Rival fans might say that they should win the title with the depth they have – but that is to overlook the fact that the club has invested brilliantly to be in a position that is so superior to the rest of the English women’s game, at least when it comes to being the best team over a 22-game season.

For example, when Chelsea took on Manchester City four times in a two-week period in March, in the League Cup final, a two-legged Champions League quarter-final and in the WSL, there was a lot of attention on City’s absentees. For some fans of the Blues, that was frustrating, given their own long injury list wasn’t really being talked about.

But that’s because City’s issues were so crippling – so much so that Bompastor even brought them up, unprompted, after knocking Nick Cushing's side out of Europe. “I just want to mention that I think City did very well in these four games against us,” she said after the Blues’ 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge in March. “I just have a small thought about them because I know they had some injuries, and maybe it was something that went more in our side because they didn't have all their squad.”

Getting up to Chelsea’s level of squad depth is the challenge for City now, as it is for Arsenal and for Manchester United. It’s not something that is easy to do quickly, either. This is what the Blues have been building towards for over a decade, through growing investment and commitment from the club.

"If you look at Chelsea, they've been able to build a squad over the last five, six, seven years, through the successes they've had,” Gareth Taylor, the City head coach until his sacking in March, said when asked about that lack of depth within his side. “When you win the league, it gives you that two months then to be able to invest, knowing that [you're] going to be playing in the Champions League [group stage] and in multiple competitions, while the other two teams who qualify for the Champions League [qualifying rounds], there's no guarantee you're going to be in that competition. By the time you have qualified for [the group stage], the transfer window has closed. You're hedging your bets a little bit."

Former Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall, meanwhile, caught the eye with what he said in an interview with Sportbladet back in January, including his comments on the departure of star forward Vivianne Miedema to City last summer. When explaining that unpopular move, he said: “In this case it was a very simple factor. You have a limited budget to work with and we had the option to sign Mariona Caldentey or extend Vivianne Miedema's contract, then you have to choose either or. But it's not a decision that you then stand at a press conference and say, ‘We needed to choose between two players’. The reality is that we couldn't afford both. Then I have to make a decision about what I think is best for the club.”

If any of these clubs want to dethrone Chelsea in the WSL, though, this has to change. Clubs have to build teams that can compete across four fronts in order to not only do exactly that, but also to be able to keep up with the Blues’ ability to stay fresh amid hectic periods of the calendar and difficult injury situations.

All of the big guns in England have shown that, on their day, they can beat the Blues. City did that in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final this term, despite being so hampered by injuries; United overcame Hayes’ Chelsea in the semi-finals of last season’s FA Cup, on their way to a first major trophy on the women’s side; while Arsenal actually have quite a few recent triumphs over their London rivals, including in last year’s League Cup final.

The problem is that none of these sides can keep up with Chelsea over the course of a 22-game season. That’s often not because they cannot beat the Blues themselves, but rather due to their inability to be consistent against the teams they should beat – something the English champions are remarkable at, owing to their ability to always have game-changers on the pitch, even when they need to rest superstars.

And Chelsea are only going to get better. This club is absolutely determined to win the Champions League, that the one trophy that has eluded the women’s team despite their domestic dominance. This season’s 8-2 aggregate loss to Barcelona in the semi-finals was a harsh reminder of how far off the continent’s elite they still are, and that is something they will look to address in all areas. That’s bad news for the rest of the WSL because it means this team is going to get stronger, more talented and better-stocked in order to bridge that gap to Barca in particular.

Even if they eventually get over the line in Europe, Chelsea are never going to stand still though. Not once in these six successive seasons of being champions of England have the Blues ever looked to do anything other than improve in all departments. That’s not just by making transfers but by bettering themselves as players and coaches, by improving the youth development at the club and by investing more resources off the pitch to take further steps forward.

All of that is what Arsenal, United, City and any other club that wants to be champions of the WSL has to do as well. But, with the gap Chelsea have now built between themselves and the rest of England, they’re going to have to do it even bigger and even better. Given the bar the Blues have set, that seems unlikely at this point.

Even if Chelsea don’t make a serious splash in the transfer window this summer, there are plenty of reasons why they should only be better next term. They’ll hope to welcome back Kerr, Buchanan and Ingle from their ACL injuries, while Fishel will be further removed from her own time on the sidelines after the same setback. Girma and Keira Walsh, huge January arrivals, will be more settled, and players such as James and Beever-Jones will be more polished and experienced.

Crucially, they’ll still have the desire to lift this trophy again, for the seventh time in succession. A team with a strong winning mentality like Chelsea’s never loses that hunger to lift titles, no matter how many times they might have done so, and even if their thirst for European glory is greater than anything else.

Being crowned a champion never gets boring. Neutrals might want a change at the top and for someone else to take the crown. But all things considered, it’s difficult to see that happening any time soon.