Chelsea in hunt for four trophies after Christmas break proves to be the perfect gift as WSL returns

Today at 01:44 PM

It was an incredible first half of the season at Chelsea and, after a break and some warm-weather training, we are bracing ourselves for what is to come in the next four months.

We dropped just two points in the Women's Super League, at Leicester in our final match before the festive break, and are into the quarter-finals of the Champions League but now have the FA Cup and League Cup to contend with too. So suddenly we'll be tackling four competitions instead of two.

Our manager Sonia Bompastorstressed to us that if we go all the way in every competition, we could have another 25 games ahead of us between now and June.

I came back to England for many reasons but one of those was the amount of fixtures. Here the schedule is, on the whole, much more manageable than in Spain when it comes to the amount of minutes in your legs.

However, the noticeable difference between the two was the time off we got over Christmas – a great little break when, at Barcelona, we would normally have just four days to ourselves.

The girls were all saying following the draw at Leicester last month that we felt we needed some time off! I think the schedule may have caught up with us slightly.

But it was nice to return to hard training in Portugal on our recent trip away, a period designed to get us prepared for a busy second half of the campaign.

It was good to have our striker Sam Kerr over there with us after her long injury lay-off.

I haven't played with Sam yet since I signed last summer but of course she was one of the big names which helped attract me to the challenge of Chelsea.

Sam is not quite yet ready to join full training but her coming back will be a massive boost to all of us considering how intense the season will get.

Her injury last season sent shockwaves across Europe at the time and the team have still done fantastically without her, although what a player she will be to throw into the mix when she's ready.

That might be a scary prospect for our rivals, given we're already pretty strong and going along nicely. We have a lot of good players, seasoned internationals, and also good youngsters like Lola Brown, 17. We have a bench that would get in the first team at many clubs.

People sometimes wonder why you have such a big squad but it is times like these when you need to utilise it because the fixture list is not going to ease up for a while.

I know my team-mate Erin Cuthbert said something similar earlier in the season but, given the choice, I would rather be in our shoes and playing in these matches than watching them on TV.

It's so far, so good when it comes to the choice I made on leaving Barca – everything I'd hoped for. There was a transition under Sonia after the reign of Emma Hayes but I got used to the system.

I found my feet in training with the girls but matches were a different thing for a while as I got to grips with Sonia's way and I feel I can be more consistent in 2025.

I know people said there was a lot of pressure on Sonia when she replaced Emma but Sonia also went in as manager of Lyon after some very successful times and I would say that was even more pressure, with the expectation of winning European Cups.

She is very good at focusing on what's in front of us. We know it means a lot if she wants to talk to you about something, tactically or otherwise, and she is very open as a person and a boss.

She keeps our feet on the ground and that will be vital as we take on the second part of what we hope will be a triumphant season. It won't be quiet, that's for sure, but we're refreshed and ready to go.

As a British, female-led brand, ALIGNE are proud to be partnering with Lucy Bronze as we champion women in sport. Female athletes are the epitome of confidence and strength and Lucy represents everything ALIGNE stands for.

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