Chelsea vs Aston Villa LIVE: Women’s Super League latest score and updates as new season gets underway

Offside, Chelsea Women. Guro Reiten is caught offside.

Corner, Chelsea Women. Conceded by Lucy Parker.

2 mins: An early chance for Chelsea! After Millie Bright wins the ball inside the Villa half, the ball drops to Guro Reiten on her left foot, but the volley is dragged wide.

Attempt missed. Guro Reiten (Chelsea Women) left footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Millie Bright with a headed pass.

New faces in the dugouts and on the pitch. The start of the 2024/25 Women’s Super League season is moments away.

Chelsea have a 100 per cent record against Aston Villa since they were promoted to the WSL, winning all eight games against tonight’s opponents over the past four seasons.

On the opening night of the Women’s Super League season, a new era will begin with the end of a custom that for so long was seen as one of the many attractions of the women’s game.

Through its formative years and into the professional era, it was seen as a selling point of the WSL that matchgoing supporters felt as if they had a “closer” relationship with the players than in the men’s game, which seemed to be heading in the other directions as the rise of transfer fees and salaries further added to the sense of detachment between the pitch and the stands.

Women’s football felt more open: even the biggest names in the league, like the England internationals, seemed more authentic, as evidenced by the regular sight of playing giving time back to their supporters at the end of matches, acknowledging their presence by stopping to take pictures by the side of the pitch and signing autographs.

It is a practice that will continue at some of this weekend’s games – but not at Chelsea. The champions announced in a notice to supporters last month it was no longer “safe or sustainable” for players to sign autographs or take selfies with fans “in an uncontrolled way” after matches at Kingsmeadow. Instead, the club said that they would hold “organised opportunities” away from match day.

Of course, such a move reflects positive change, that the WSL and women’s football at the top level in England is growing to the point that players can no longer accommodate the requests of every fan at full time. Rising attendances render it impossible anyway, particularly when games are played at the club’s main stadium: Arsenal, for example, have largely left those days behind them as a virtue of committing to playing at least 11 matches at the Emirates this season. And their average attendance last season was over 35,000 – above that of half the Premier League.

Jamie Braidwood’s big WSL preview:

Lineups are announced and players are warming up.

Lucy Bronze aims to complete her “dream” by winning the Champions League with an English side following her move to Chelsea earlier this summer.

The England international has won the top European trophy five times throughout her illustrious career, three with Lyon before going on to win it in both seasons during her time in Spain, but is still looking to add to her tally.