You’d be forgiven for thinking Chelsea would struggle in front of goal at Manchester United. Having been held to a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on the opening weekend of the campaign, this despite mustering a whopping 35 shots at Stamford Bridge, many expected similar at Leigh Sports Village in Sunday’s early kick off.
On the contrary, Chelsea tore through United like a hot knife through butter. Indeed, it was a five-star showing from Sonia Bompastor’s side. “When you have the opportunity to really hurt a team, the best way to respect them is to score as many goals as you can,” the Blues boss said following a 5-0 win.
Keira Walsh pulled the strings from midfield, as is to be expected from the 29-year-old, but central to Chelsea’s attacking efforts, perhaps unsurprisingly, was Lauren James.
James’ false-nine role
James’ talent isn’t a secret. Rather, she’s considered by some to be England’s best player, or at the very least; their most effective attacker. And over the opening two weeks of the season, she has very proven why.
Chelsea travelled to Leigh without several attacking options. It wasn’t a great surprise, then, that Bompastor named an XI without a conventional striker in a 4-3-3 setup. This time around, James was named as a false-nine, free to drop deep to link up the play and drift across the frontline.
It dragged markers out of position. United struggled to contain the 24-year-old, who struck for the second league game running on the hour mark. James’ 61st-minute goal came from one of eight shots. She fired off 11 in the 1-1 draw with Villa last weekend. 19 shots is the most ever by a player across a team’s opening two games of a Barclay Women’s Super League campaign, as per Opta.
Deployed in a deeper role behind Aggie Beever-Jones and Wieke Kaptein against the Villans, James was tasked with exploiting the space the pair freed up.
Against United, meanwhile, she was the one creating the space for others. The above touch map via WhoScored.com served to illustrate the licence to roam across the final third rather than remain a pure vocal point for this Chelsea. And to say the United defence struggled to contain James would be a huge understatement.
It created a real problem for the hosts, who either needed to remain in position, thus granting James the space to work her magic, or track the Chelsea star, which in turn opened gaps for wide pair Kaptein and Alyssa Thompson to exploit. Bompastor was essentially forced to use James as the leading striker, but it was an enforced tactical switch that reaped the rewards.
Link up play vital
Not only was James’ willingness to roam across the midfield and attack vital as Chelsea put United to the sword, so, too, was her vision and ability to fully utilise her distribution. One of the key responsibilities of any player operating as a false nine is to brings others into play, and James did so effectively at the weekend.
Admittedly, James created just one chance prior to her 71st-minute withdrawal, but she managed a fine 90% pass success rate from her 30 attempted passes. Against Villa, she maintained a 92.6% pass accuracy from 54 passes. These are returns a seasoned central midfielder would routinely put up, not a forward player.
And yet, James found a teammate with ease, ensuring Chelsea were able to keep the pressure on United and dominate as they picked up their first three points of the season.
Importantly, Bompastor looks to have found a way to maximise James’ immense talent without pigeon-holing the Blues star into a single specific role. In the process, Chelsea are expected to be far less predictable in the final third over the coming weeks and months.
A Fantasy option?
Remarkably, James has been selected by just 28% of Fantasy gamers this season. In part, users may have been reluctant to go with the Chelsea star given last season’s injury issues. After all, James was restricted to just 11 league starts in the 2025/26 campaign.
Even so, James is a midfielder on Fantasy, and is priced somewhat favourably at £7.5m. Should Bompastor continue to utilise James as a false-nine, then you’ve essentially added another striker to your squad.
Across the opening two games, James has amassed 23 points, which puts her joint-fourth in the Fantasy standings, and just four off leader Khadija Shaw. Chelsea host newly-promoted Birmingham City this weekend before a run of five successive London Derbies, starting with the welcome of rivals Arsenal to round out September. They won’t leave London now until November, at least in the BWSL anyway.
With home comforts, then it’s certainly worth bringing James into your side given her position and price.
