Excitement had been building as champions Chelsea prepared to open the new WSL season at home, in front of a sell-out crowd of 4,337 at Kingsmeadow.

The streets outside the ground were bustling with fans wearing this season’s new kits and displaying plenty of new names on the backs of their shirts.

Bronze’s was one of them. Her arrival grabbed the headlines with the five-time Champions League winner, 32, a big addition to Bompastor’s squad and she had a solid display on her debut.

France forward Sandy Baltimore was another exciting signing and she showed her pedigree from the start, running at Villa’s backline and dribbling with the ball at speed.

But Villa had some stardust of their own too.

Kearns left childhood club Liverpool in the summer in the hope of regular gametime, and in her preferred, advanced midfield role.

She was granted her wish by De Pauw and took her opportunity, causing problems when Villa won the ball back in the first half and linking up nicely with fellow debutant Grant – a lively presence on the right wing.

Meanwhile, new Villa left-back Paula Tomas was kept busy by the explosive Kaneryd and goalkeeper D’Angelo had to be wary of efforts from Guro Reiten, Kadeisha Buchanan and Erin Cuthbert.

Former Arsenal goalkeeper D’Angelo almost scored what would have been a sensational goal had Hampton not kept out her header in the dying seconds, when she went up for a free-kick.

“If she had scored that [goal] then I would have carried her off the pitch on my shoulders!” said manager De Pauw afterwards.

“She looked at me and asked ‘can I go?’ I said ‘yes.’ And if she had scored that, we would have gone [viral] around the world I think.”

Villa knew this would be a tough ask on the opening day of the season but De Pauw’s side looked impressive in possession and well organised out of it.

While they come away with defeat in London, there were plenty of signs to suggest they will achieve their ambitions of finishing inside the league’s top six – an improvement on last season.

Chelsea have greater ambitions. They want to maintain their WSL dominancy and add more silverware but this was a reminder, if they needed one, that it will not be easy.