Archive November 7, 2025

Manchester United defender Hannah Blundell says she feels like a “trailblazer” after making her return seven months after giving birth – and encourages more sportswomen to follow her lead.

The 31-year-old came on as a substitute during her side’s 3-2 Women’s Super League (WSL) win at Brighton last week, making her the first Manchester United player in the professional era to play after giving birth.

Blundell delivered her daughter Romi by caesarean section on 31 March and her return seven months later came 533 days after her previous appearance.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Blundell said she is adjusting to being a “trailblazer” but wants her experience to inspire other sportswomen.

“It’s kind of a new chapter for me but something that I’m really happy to be a part of – something I really want to push that more women do in the game, and that they come back and are still able to play football,” said Blundell.

“Because yes, football is a short career but also having a family is something that a lot of people want to do, and they shouldn’t not have to do it because of playing football.

“Thankfully we are getting to a stage where more women are having children and then getting back into the game, which is lovely to see.”

Blundell, who joined from Chelsea in 2021, was a regular starter for Manchester United in her first three seasons and was a starter as the club lifted their first FA Cup in May 2024.

Four months later United announced she was pregnant with her first child, and Blundell says at times she wondered whether she would be the same athlete on her return.

“I was sort of like ‘what if I don’t come back as the same player? What if my body doesn’t react positively to having a baby?'” said Blundell.

“But I think women’s bodies are incredible. What our bodies can go through and bounce back I think is amazing, and I think should be shown a lot more.”

Blundell started building her fitness again in July, before making appearances for United’s under-21s in September.

She made the matchday squad against Chelsea on 3 October and remained an unused substitute against Valerenga, Everton and Atletico Madrid last month before finally making her comeback against Brighton.

Blundell hopes her journey from pregnancy to returning to first-team football will help inspire a community which will make it easier for women to follow a similar path.

“I just hope people look at it and think ‘I can do that’. And it doesn’t stop them and gives them a worry – it’s kind of like the more people do it,” said Blundell.

Women’s Super League: Arsenal v Chelsea

Venue: Emirates Stadium, London Date: Saturday, 8 November Kick-off: 12:00 GMT

Chelsea have not lost a match in the Women’s Super League in 555 days.

Their French manager Sonia Bompastor has never experienced the feeling of defeat in the English top flight.

Since losing 4-3 to Liverpool on 1 May 2024, Chelsea have claimed two WSL titles, changed managers and gone 32 league games unbeaten.

If they avoid defeat on Saturday, the Blues will equal the longest unbeaten streak in WSL history – set by Chelsea under Emma Hayes between 2019 and 2021.

But Arsenal, who are desperate to keep their title hopes alive, stand in their way.

While Chelsea have stayed unbeaten at the start of 2025-26 campaign and sit top of the WSL table, Arsenal have been less fortunate.

The Gunners’ hopes of a title charge suffered an early blow with a defeat by Manchester City and draws against Manchester United and Aston Villa.

Those results have left Arsenal five points behind Chelsea and a defeat on Saturday would surely end their dreams of winning a first league title since 2019.

While they have endured a shaky start to the season, the Gunners did strengthen in the summer and Slegers has a deeper squad to challenge the reigning champions.

Arsenal will also take confidence from their triumphant Champions League run last season, when they beat eight-time winners Lyon and favourites Barcelona to lift the one trophy that Chelsea have yet to win.

Former Gunners defender Jen Beattie says Arsenal have the players to cause Chelsea problems.

“I do think that they have more than enough quality in their squad to [win], ” she told the Women’s Football Weekly podcast.

“We’ve seen that over the past sort of 12 months of course – it’s whether they get it tactically right.”

Slegers will also be well aware that Bompastor’s side have looked far from invincible this season.

The Blues overcame a slow start to beat Aston Villa and they narrowly edged past Leicester, while they dropped points in a surprise draw against Dutch side Twente in their Women’s Champions League opener.

Describing Chelsea’s unbeaten run as “ridiculous”, former England striker Ellen White added: “It is going to be a real challenge for Arsenal and I think it comes at a good time for them.

“They have to put everything together now and they have to perform and improve and really kickstart their season.”

On their way to becoming the first WSL side to finish a 22-game season unbeaten, Chelsea did the league-double over Arsenal last term.

One goal separated the two teams on both occasions.

During their last outing at the Emirates, Chelsea netted twice in the opening 16 minutes – a cushion that the Gunners, who were playing under Jonas Eidevall, could not overturn.

In January’s reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge, Guro Reiten’s late penalty saw off to Renee Slegers’ side.

Arsenal have won three of their past 10 meetings against Chelsea in all competitions, losing six.

Their last victory against the Blues arrived in the 2024 League Cup final, when Stina Blackstenius scored a 116th-minute winner.

More than 50,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday’s meeting, which Slegers says will be “a beautiful occasion”, as well as a “great opportunity” to get back into the title race.

If Chelsea were to win, they would move to 22 points – eight ahead of Arsenal, whereas if the hosts were to triumph, they would cut the deficit to the Blues to just two points.

And Arsenal boast an impressive home record, having lost just one of their past 24 home matches in the league – although that did come against Chelsea last season.

“This is why the players work so hard, what they live for, to play these kinds of games where there’s so much at stake,” says Slegers.

Lando Norris pipped McLaren team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri to the fastest time at the very end of practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri by one point following his win in Mexico City two weeks ago, beat the Australian by 0.023secs.

Until then, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour of running before sprint qualifying at 18:30 GMT.

Verstappen’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver to crash, albeit lightly, when he spun at Turn Four early in the session.

The Japanese lost control over the exit kerbs before spinning across the run-off area, and was fortunate to get away with just a light touch of the barrier.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also had a spin, at the very end of the session, rotating twice coming through the fast downhill Mergulho corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.

The seven-time champion ended the session 19th, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren drivers were well clear of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber third fastest, 0.619secs off Piastri’s pace.