In this series we take a look at three points of interest across the Club
Chelsea Women Kickstart the Season
Chelsea Women ended pre-season strong and started their campaign the same way, with a 2-1 win against perennial title challengers, Man City.
There were goals from Beever-Jones and Hamano, and a debut for right back Ellie Carpenter. Bjorn and Bright dealt well with Bunny Shaw, while Jean-Francois and Macario had great impact from the bench.
We mentioned Aggie Beever-Jones in the last edition of Three Points because of her hattrick against AC Milan. On Friday she once again scored with her weaker foot. What makes it all the more impressive is the movement beforehand; staying on the blind side of the defender and then accelerating towards the front post. That kind of movement and instinct inside the box is invaluable and very hard to teach. She is now proving that she’s not just an option when Kerr and Ramirez are unavailable, but a genuine challenger to their position. Could we see a switch to two up top to accommodate at points during the season? This might be especially useful against lower blocks where Chelsea have more possession.
The second player we would like to focus on is Ellie Carpenter. The Australian made her competitive debut against Man City and won the Player of the Match award; deservedly so. She showed fantastic energy on the right hand side and provided a different dynamic. Not only good at 1v1 defending (winning 9/10 ground duels), she also offered an option going forward and was involved in both goals – first assisting ABJ and then playing into Macario during the build up of Hamano’s goal. This is a player entering their prime and a huge asset to the club as Bronze enters her twilight years.
Blues Here, Blues There, Blues Everywhere
As usual Chelsea have a myriad of players out on loan at various clubs, not only in England, but across the world. Let’s take a look at how a few of them have been performing.
Leo Casteldine:
The twenty-year-old Englishman has settled in fast at Huddersfield, scoring a screamer against Sunderland in the EFL Cup and then providing four goal involvements in a 6-2 win against Newcastle’s U21s in the EFL Trophy. He started the league game against Doncaster, contributing in a different way; making a terrific recovery run and last ditch tackle. His work rate is something that embodies Huddersfield’s nickname, the Terriers, and will make him a fan favorite in no time.
Strasbourg Trio:
Penders, Sarr and Paez are all on loan at fellow BlueCo club Strasbourg.
Penders has kept clean sheets against Brondby (H) and Metz (A). His save percentage isn’t great so far, but it’s only a small sample size, while his passing range and cross claiming are standing out.
New vice-captain Sarr has played every minute, helping his side through the Conference League qualifiers and keeping two clean sheets in the league against Metz and Nantes. He has however already picked up two yellow cards in five games – perhaps something to keep an eye on.
Paez is only 18 and playing his first senior season in Europe, and as such both his minutes and expectations need to be managed. He got a taster of UEFA competition with a cameo against Brondby, while also coming off the bench in two Ligue 1 games and starting against Nantes. The Ecuadorian is splitting his time between right-sided and central positions.
Anselmino:
It may only be one game, but the Argentine is endearing himself to Dortmund fans already.
He played 76 minutes in a 3-0 win against Union Berlin. There will certainly be more difficult games this season but he made a great start with a 94% pass completion rate (6 into the final third) and 7 defensive contributions.
Teddy Sharman-Lowe
As is usually the case with young goalkeepers, Teddy has already had multiple loan spells across the EFL; having a breakout year with Doncaster in 2024-2025. Now he finds himself at Bolton in League One.
His debut was a 2-0 win against Plymouth, but bizarrely since then the Trotters have drawn four games in a row with a score of 1-1. The young goalkeeper has performed admirably so far and looks set to have another season where he gains valuable experience outside of the Cobham environment.
Global FC
Many players have been involved in international games this week, and we’re here to shine a light on a select few.
Estevao scored his first goal for Brazil against bottom of the table Chile, while Cucurella also netted against against Bulgaria with a typical across goal finsh.
Captain Reece James is back in the England setup and got an assist against Andorra. Neto also got an assist against Armenia.
Youth:
16 players have been called up from Chelsea’s U18s and U21 squads, with 12 of those being for England.
Mheuka carried his fine club form onto the international side, scoring in a 2-0 win over Ukraine and then twice against Spain in a 3-3 draw for the U19s.
The U20 side, which includes Curd, Murray-Campbell, McMahon, and the on-loan Samuels-Smith, lost 2-1 to Italy.
The U18s have took Bernal, Emenalo, Walsh and Ezenwata and won 3-1 against Uzbekistan, then 4-1 against Morocco, where Ezenwata scored.
Kavuma-McQueen scored the winner for England U17s against Venezuela, then teammates Eboue and Diakite scored in a win against Israel.
Cardoso played 45 minutes for Portugal against Czechia and Antwi kept a clean sheet for Sweden against Armenia.
McGlinchey was part of the Ireland side that lost 4-1 to France.
The Chelsea Spot 
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