After winning all of the last six Women's Super League titles in succession, it's not been an easy season so far for Chelsea. The Blues are set to surrender their crown for the first time in seven years, with Manchester City sat eight points clear at the top of the table, and the negative noise around the club has only grown since the unpopular departure of Paul Green, the long-time head of women's football, was announced last week. But on Sunday, it felt like a boost of hope was injected into their season, by none other than Lauren James.

Hannah Hampton, Leah Williamson, Alex Greenwood and Lauren James are all back in the England squad after missing the Lionesses' final camp of 2025 due to injury, dealing Sarina Wiegman's side a real boost as they cope with some new absentees ahead of the start of qualifying for the 2027 Women's World Cup. England are without four members of the Euro 2025-winning squad for the upcoming window, including Ella Toone and Beth Mead.

Lauren James' brilliance helped Chelsea boost their chances of qualifying for next season's Women's Champions League in an important 2-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday, the Blues securing all three points at a time when plenty of negative noise has swirled around the club. Disappointing results led to questions being asked of head coach Sonia Bompator and her future, while the departure of head of women's football Paul Green this week caused a real stir. But the players did all they could do on Sunday, seeing off a revitalised Liverpool side thanks to goals from James and Sjoeke Nusken.

Sandy Baltimore scored the pick of the goals and grabbed a second from the penalty spot as Chelsea swept aside West Ham 5-0 on Sunday to keep up the pace on Manchester City at the top of the Women's Super League table. The Blues led after just 46 seconds at Kingsmeadow and did not look back as they launched wave after wave of attack on their visitors, with Lauren James and Alyssa Thompson also grabbing first-half goals in a rampant display.

Chelsea's record-breaking unbeaten run in the Women's Super League came to a shock end on Sunday as Everton, who came into the game with just one victory in the competition this season, stunned the defending champions, winning 1-0 to deal Sonia Bompastor her first defeat as Blues boss. There were just 12 minutes on the clock when Honoka Hayashi broke the deadlock for the visiting side, giving Chelsea plenty of time to respond, but the hosts couldn't do so as their 34-game unbeaten streak in the WSL was snapped.