Emma Hayes was reduced to tears by a touching gesture from her side ahead of their opening day win over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge, as players gifted her a shirt in memory of her recently deceased father.
The long-serving Blues boss‘ father, Sid, passed away last week at the age of 82, with Hayes’ players presenting her with a Chelsea shirt emblazoned with ‘Papa 82’ on the back.
In honour of her father’s passing, Hayes had called for a ‘proper Chelsea’ performance to kick start their defence of the WSL title in front of a home crowd.
As they so often do, her team delivered, with goals from Mia Fishel and Lauren James securing a 2-1 win over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are defending their Women’s Super League title for a fifth season in a row but they had gone four years without winning their opening game of the campaign.
Emma Hayes’ Chelsea began their hunt for a fifth consecutive WSL title with a 2-1 win over Tottenham
Chelsea players presented Hayes with a ‘Papa 82’ shirt following her father’s death last week
Hayes was reduced to tears by her players’ touching gesture after the win over their rivals
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They were beaten by Liverpool last season and Arsenal the year before, while they had been held to a 1-1 draw at Manchester United in 2020.
A late goal from Martha Thomas ensured a few nerves but Hayes’ side held on.
‘It was really hard for me today,’ said Hayes. ‘I love my players because they understand our environment, they’ve taken care of me at a very difficult time. I know for my family today that will have been really tough. I just wanted to get through it.’
Chelsea were without Australian star Sam Kerr, who is still getting fit after a short pre-season, but players had arrived in buoyant mood after title rivals Arsenal had lost at home to Liverpool earlier in the day.
Tottenham, with new manager Robert Vilahamn on the touchline, frustrated Chelsea for the best part of half an hour and had caused problems on the break.
But with their biggest goal threat Bethany England sitting in the stands due to injury, finding the back of the net was always going to prove tricky.
The Blues finally broke through on 28 minutes when Niamh Charles drove past Angharad James and sent a cross in for Fishel, who evaded Luana Buhler to glance a header into the far corner.
Chelsea went close to doubling their lead shortly after half-time when Lauren James sent a long-range shot against the crossbar.
Lauren James was on the scoresheet as the Blues won on the first day of the season for the first time in four years
Mia Fishel also scored for the hosts as Chelsea made the most of rivals Arsenal dropping points
Martha Thomas’ late goal made for a nervy ending, but Chelsea held on for the points
But it did not take long for the second goal to come. Guro Reiten thought she had scored it with a deflected effort.
Replays showed the ball had crossed the line but, without goal-line technology, play continued. Chelsea kept the ball alive and Maren Mjelde crossed for Lauren James to side-foot a volley into the top left corner.
From nowhere, Spurs were given a lifeline in the 76th minute when Zecira Musovic spilled Grace Clinton’s long-range effort and Thomas pounced to tap in.
The keeper atoned for that error with a fine save to deny Jessica Naz an equaliser.
