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Chelsea round off their two-match pre-season USA tour with a game against their rivals Arsenal at Audi Field in Washington DC.

Both clubs are preparing for the Women's Super League season, which returns on 20 September.

Chelsea will be defending the title, which they have won for the past five seasons, and Arsenal will be trying to win the trophy for the first time since the 2018/29 season.

Image source, USA Today Sports

Lucy Bronze made her debut for Chelsea in their 3-1 win against Gotham FC but she was moved around in the back line.

The England defender is arguably one of the best right-backs in the world but is capable of playing elsewhere. Sonia Bompastor moved the 32-year-old to centre-back in the second half.

The manager, who previously coached Bronze at Lyon, said on the position change: "I know Lucy well and I know she has already played in that position [before] and knows how to perform.

"She has a lot of experience and she is also quite happy to be in that position. It is maybe something we need to think about for the future."

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New Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor celebrated her debut win and was satisfied the players are buying into the new system.

Bompastor succeeded Emma Hayes as Chelsea manager, a position Hayes held for 12 years.

"I'm really happy because I could feel like my players really invested in the game, especially because it was the first one [of pre-season] against a team within their season," Bompastor said.

'You could see everyone was together to make sure we were working on our game model and the way we want to play.

"We had some success in the first minutes of the game and scored three goals, and it was really nice to start in this way.

"There is always room for improvement and that's normal because we are really in the beginning of the season, but I'm happy with the win and the way the team played tonight."

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Sonia Bompastor's first game in charge of Chelsea started an era she will hope to continue as the team defeated National Women's League Soccer champions Gotham FC 3-1.

The Blues, who are defending Women's Super League champions, were 2-0 up inside 15 minutes thanks to a brace from Johanna Rytting Kaneryd.

Aggie Beever-Jones added a third just before half an hour but Jess Carter, who signed for Gotham from Chelsea this summer, scored before the break to see the score 3-1.

There were no more goals in the second half to seal Bompastor's winning start.

Chelsea fans also got to see England international Lucy Bronze in Blues colours for the first time. She signed from Barcelona this summer.

Guy from Nottingham

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

Chelsea have agreed a fee in principle for Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix, with Conor Gallagher moving in the other direction as part of the deal.

The fee for the 24-year-old Portugal international is undisclosed, but it will allow him to return to Stamford Bridge on a six-year deal with an option for a further season.

Felix's move, which is subject to a medical, will bring him back after a 2023 loan spell at Chelsea.

He scored four goals in 20 appearances in his previous spell in west London.

England midfielder Gallagher, meanwhile, is set to sign a five-year deal with Atletico.

Read the full story.

The Times

Chelsea remains the focus in the papers but The Times are leading on Joao Felix's potential deal with the club.

If Felix moves to Chelsea it could also see Conor Gallagher's move away confirmed.

Image source, Times

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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RC Strasbourg are set to sign Southampton forward Sekou Mara for £10.2million.

The 22-year-old has travelled to France to complete a medical and sign a new five-year deal at the French top flight club.

The move will see Mara return to France after the Saints originally signed the France Under-21 international from Bordeaux for £11m in 2022.

Strasbourg is Chelsea's sister club which is also owned by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital under the parent company BlueCo.

The Alsace club shares the same football philosophy as Chelsea and is now managed by former Hull City manager Liam Rosenior, who replaced Patrick Vieira over the summer.

Strasbourg have also signed Diego Moreira, Andrey Santos and Caleb Wiley from Chelsea and have interest in adding goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

Southampton, meanwhile, have undergone significant change this summer by signing 10 senior players for Russell Martin's first team, including Cameron Archer, Ben Brereton Diaz and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Chris

Alan

Raheem Sterling's team released a statement on Sunday saying they wanted clarity over the decision to leave the 29-year-old out of the matchday squad to play Manchester City in the Premier League.

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was asked about the statement after the game, which the Blues lost 2-0.

He said: “The only thing I can say was a technical decision and we will find clarity.

“All the players, if they want to be Chelsea players we want to try and see how we can use them. I want Raheem Sterling but we have 30 players. Raheem, we will clarify in the next days.”

Image source, Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph

England international Raheem Sterling's position at Chelsea is also the splash for The Telegraph.

Sterling, 29, joined Chelsea in 2022 from Manchester City.

Image source, Telegraph

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Raheem Sterling's Chelsea future is being surrounded by rumours after he was left out of their first Premier League squad of the season on Sunday.

One of the latest reports, from the Daily Mail, external, says Juventus have enquired about the England international to potentially sign the winger.

The report says the Italian club had registered their interest prior to Chelsea's game against Manchester City at the weekend.

It is thought Juventus would need to sell some players in order to afford the 29-year-old.

The Guardian

Raheem Sterling's potential Chelsea exit is the lead story for The Guardian.

Sterling was left out of the first squad of the Premier League season at the weekend and rumours have ramped up with the incoming deal with Joao Felix.

Image source, Guardian

So that is the first round of Premier League fixtures completed, just another 37 to go.

Which players stood out to you? Do you have any early title winner predictions? And who underwhelmed?

Let us know your thoughts using the information above and do remember to leave your name with the message.

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Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur are both back in action in the Premier League next weekend.

The Foxes head to Fulham on Saturday, while Spurs play their first home game of the Premier League season at home to Everton.

Leicester then take on Tranmere Rovers in the Carabao Cup in a week's time (27 August).

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Tottenham Hotspur's new striker Dominic Solanke made his debut for Spurs last night following his £65m move from Bournemouth.

Solanke certainly kept Leicester City goalkeeper Mads Hermansen busy. The forward had three shots, all from inside of the penalty area and all of them were on target.

The 26-year-old had a personal expected goals (xG) value of 0.34 in the match, the highest of any Tottenham player and the second highest of the whole match, only behind Leicester goal scorer Jamie Vardy (0.8).

However, of Solanke's three shots, one of them was labelled a 'big chance', making him one of three players to not convert a big chance.

Solanke completed 15 of his 19 attempted passes and of the 10 duels he was involved in, he was successful in eight of them.

Gary Rose
BBC Sport

Tottenham showed off their big summer signing Dominic Solanke in this game, with the ex-Bournemouth forward brought in to provide the cutting edge that was missing at times last season.

But the familiar issues in front of goal were here once again, with Solanke as guilty as any of his new team-mates of missing decent opportunities.

He twice failed to make the most of chances to mark his debut with a goal by directing tame headers at the goalkeeper, but it is early days and plenty of time for both himself and Tottenham to work on their sharpness in front of goal.

In the first half Tottenham looked every bit a side capable of fighting for a top-four finish, but a lacklustre second half shows there's lots of room for improvement.

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Rodrigo Bentancur is conscious after his head injury at Leicester, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou confirmed.

The midfielder clashed heads with Abdul Fatawu and then landed heavily at a Spurs corner. He needed over five minutes of treatment before being carried off with 12 minutes left.

"He is up and communicating," said Postecoglou. "It’s a head injury and we’ll leave it in the hands of the medical team but he’s conscious and communicating. Nowadays we’re always cautious in the moment.

"I don’t know the actual circumstances (of what happened)."

It was more injury woe for the Uruguay international at the King Power Stadium. In February 2023 he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during a 4-1 win, in which he scored.

The knee injury sidelined him for eight months.

Image source, Getty Images

If you looked just at the match stats and not at any of the match action from Monday night's draw at the King Power Stadium, you probably would be wondering how on earth Tottenham Hotspur did not take all three points against Leicester City.

Across the whole game, Tottenham had 70.5% of the possession and in the first half, averaged 72.4% of the ball.

Spurs had 15 shots in the match compared to Leicester's seven. Of that seven, the Foxes managed just one in the first half.

In the opposition's box, Tottenham managed 62 touches. Leicester, meanwhile, mustered just 11.

Perhaps the most telling statistic from last night's game is the expected goal (xG) values. Despite Tottenham's dominance for large parts of the match, they both finished with similar xG values. Tottenham's was higher, ending with 1.18, with Leicester only fractionally behind at 1.05.