Chelsea Ladies defender Laura Bassett ponders their defeat to Liverpool and where that leaves the title race. Laura also reveals how the club is buzzing after the return of Didier Drogba and Jose Mourinho's market work.
Our defeat to Liverpool may've left us level on points with Birmingham at the top of the Women's Super League table, but having played two games more, it's going to be difficult for us.
As our manager, Emma Hayes, said after the game on Saturday, Liverpool Ladies played like champions and do appear to be the form team of the league. Certainly, five wins in six games suggests so.
For Chelsea, well, we just have to concentrate on ourselves.
The players were focused all week going into the Liverpool showdown, performing well in training, digesting and executing our game plan. But it just didn't happen for us, unfortunately.
At this stage of the season, you just have to control the controllables and gain as many points as you possibly can. The top four target the manager set at the start of the season is well within our grasp.
Of course, I left Birmingham for Chelsea at the end of last season.
Birmingham are a fantastic club with a wealth of experience and quality players. Their performances and results this season so far in both the Champions League and WSL have shown they are a strong, consistence force.
This is what makes them favourites for the title.
The positives for Chelsea is that to be up at the top end of the table and within reach of Birmingham is very pleasing for us and a vast improvement on last season.
As far as the banter with my friends at Birmingham, it has been quite muted as both sets of players know there is still a long way to go and lots of points to be played for! So no one wants to overstep the banter stakes just yet!
Since the last time we touched base, Jose Mourinho has welcomed Didier Drogba back to Chelsea.
I must say the place is buzzing. The club is full of excitement and anticipation for the start of the season. Everyone is keen to see how the team begins and the new signings perform.
The return of Drogba gives Jose's team a new but well known dimension to his attacking options.
New arrivals Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa know each other well from the Spanish national team and have already given us an insight into what is to come this season.
We are all looking forward to seeing them all score for Chelsea this season! I'm certain they will be among the goal of the season contenders!
Drogba is a real icon and role model within the club and the game worldwide.
He will undoubtedly help motivate and inspire the younger pros who have looked up to him for so many years. Jose is excellent at crafting a bond with all the players in the dressing room and Didier is perfect to support with this role because of his charismatic temperament and hard working attitude.
