With 11 minutes remaining, Chelsea appeared to be cruising to victory in their Women's Super League opener against Aston Villa. Yet, after 57 touches in the opposition box, 23 shots inside the area, hitting the crossbar and having another goal disallowed for offside, somehow they drew 1-1. The statistics are alarming given they did everything right to win, except score more.
It is an issue that has reared its head on several occasions during manager Sonia Bompastor's time in charge and is why many have tipped rivals Arsenal to win the title this season. While England international Lauren James oozed quality and summer signing Katie McCabe had a strong WSL debut, Chelsea's lack of ruthlessness in front of goal could prove costly. We wanted to start with energy and create opportunities but at this level, we need to be more clinical," McCabe, who joined Chelsea from Arsenal this summer, told BBC Sport.
"We're frustrated to drop points at home. We're not going to panic - it's the start of the season. We'll look to rectify next week.
It's not Chelsea standards to drop points at home." Late own goal earns Aston Villa point at Chelsea Find interviews and extra content on the BBC Women's Football Weekly feed Chelsea attempted 34 shots in the game, their highest total in a WSL match since the start of last season. James hit the ground running with a superb strike that flew into the roof of the net within 11 minutes and Chelsea fans expected the floodgates to open. Villa barely laid a glove on their opponents and had only five touches in Chelsea's box.
But, against the run of play, Noelle Maritz's shot ricocheted off goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and bounced in off Chelsea defender Veerle Buurman late on. Villa boss Natalia Arroyo threw her arms in the air and their supporters punctured the silence of disbelief that fell across Stamford Bridge. "If you analyse the performance and the statistics, then you would say it's crazy that we didn't win.
We created so many opportunities," said Bompastor. "The reality of football is that if we were two or three nil up then the game is over. It's a completely different game in the second half.
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