Chelsea Women claimed another Treble on Sunday and added the Women's FA Cup to their WSL and Women's League Cup titles.
The blues were also unbeaten the entire domestic season and have not been lost since 1 May 2024 when Emma Hayes – prematurely, it turned out – the competition title to Manchester City women admitted after a 4-3 defeat against Women van Liverpool.
The sight of another trophy lift will have been an annoying for not only Marc Skinner's Manchester United -women -beaten 3-0 at Wembley -but also of Arsenal Women and Man City.
All three have chased Chelsea in the WSL title race in recent years and sometimes defeated them in cup matches. But the blues continue to prove that they are the dominant power in English women's football, even after a change of head coach.
And we notice that we are asking the question again – how does anyone catch Chelsea on the domestic front?
Invest and strengthen
The clearest and most obvious answer. With significant investments, Chelsea has built a team that can compete on several fronts.
In fact, the blues won the WSL title with a huge 12 points – their biggest winning margin in the competition. Last year they won the target difference, with only a few points that separated the top two sides.
And only a few days ago, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian bought a 10 percent interest in the club for a reported £ 20 million, which also gives him a place on the club's board. Their success makes them an attractive prospect.
That does not mean that other clubs have not added quality. Mariona Caldentey has improved Arsenal, while a number of summer signs from Man Utd have regularly been starters this season. Man City added, although struggled with injuries.
But only last summer Chelsea Lucy Bronze and Sandy Baltimore signed. In January, Kiera Walsh and Naomi Girma – the first female player to be sold for more than $ 1 million – arrived. They are players just a level above most of those who join the clubs around them and draw for big money.
So if other teams want to attract a similar level of players, they need the means of their hierarchies to be able to do this.
The FA Cup final was attended by a part of the Senior Staff of Man Utd, including Omar Berrada and the Glazers, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe remained noticeably absent, as he was for last year's victory.
After the game, Skinner said that he feels supported by the club, but the differences between himself and Chelsea were clear.
“It is not whether you are visible, but as long as our club and team are invested, that is also a way to show your support,” he said.
“I feel the support and we have to show it in the right way in the summer to close that gap.
“I love my team, I love their energy and we have many young players, but if you look at it [the final]You see the difference.
“Just look at the replacements, and I don't mean that against ours, but it is a completely different experience. We need that level of experience and quality to really make a difference
“If you saw me at the end, I stare into the space because I think of how I can close that gorge. I am not going to have the finances that Arsenal or Manchester City might be.
“We spend very openly less than Chelsea … The reality is that it is the investment in the team that should happen.”
It is something that Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor also wants to see in England – Having better teams only pushes the Hare even more.
“It is important for most teams to invest in the women's game because I think that if you have more competition, you can perform better,” she said after winning the FA Cup.
“This is what we want and what we need to be an even better team. We want to be at the top of the competition and take everyone with us. This is what we want to achieve, but we need the other teams to still invest and go with us.”
Identification of experience and quality
One of the downfall of Man Utd in the FA Cup final was errors that allowed Chelsea to score two late goals. It showed the ruthlessness of the blues and a touch of naivety in the young side of Skinner.
And although talented players are important, this does not always translate into a different competition. However, experience at the highest level can be crucial and balancing those two aspects is vital.
Skinner explained: “Emma's legacy was to build a robust team that can take responsibility at those big moments because they are used to it. That's what we don't have.
“That is something, if I want to bridge a gap, it can be a way we do it, buy people like that who have been and has won that and also put it in our team.”
Experience is not only important for domestic fronts, because Man Utd and Arsenal also have Champions League football to compete next season.
Before they even reach the competition phase, there will be qualifying rounds to contend with, although the Gunners can bypass this if they win the Champions League themselves. But Man Utd will certainly be confronted with a maximum of four extra games, which contributes to their workload.
“The Champions League is going to add more problems with the team, because you go with higher profile matches halfway through the week and then Chelsea at the weekend at the weekend,” Skinner added.
“We have to get the right depth. If we don't do that, then you struggle. You've seen Manchester City this year when they touch injuries because they extend to that point, they descend. Arsenal were the same year before.
“Chelsea is probably the only team that has invested enough in the team to have that depth and to be able to cover midweek to weekend matches. That will be the challenge for us.”
Working with current players
Although investment is the key, it is impossible – and unwise – to change a whole team, especially if they still have high quality players.
There must also be a focus on coaching and mentality, and as Skinner says it, 'maximize' the talent they already have – finding that extra one or two per cent that can make the difference.
Chelsea is used every season to win the final and win competitions in the tightest moments. The more other teams around them compete on the same fronts, the easier they can navigate in the same situations in the future.
“I have to find the way of Manchester United in the summer,” said Skinner. “We have to maximize what we have. Our players must come back fitter, stronger, more aggressively. We have to concentrate more and control the controllables.
“I will not rest in the summer. I have to find a way in which we can close that other kind of opening. I have to find small fragments here and there that can improve us.
“Chelsea was physically better than we were [in the final]And it's something I have to look at.
“I will look specifically where I think players are planning, where some may have to go, some may have to stay and who would grow. I now need a space to do that.”
Chelsea still chases Women's Champions League
For all their 'invincible' performance, their team depth and quality, there is one trophy that still misses Chelsea – the Women's Champions League.
It is the only blip on a different perfect season. It is also demonstrably what Chelsea stops from being considered one of the largest clubs in Europe.
Arsenal even remains the most successful team of the WSL on the continent. They have reached their second Champions League final – opposite Barcelona in Lisbon on 25 May – one more than Chelsea. The Gunners remain the only English team that has won the competition.
The lack of success of Chelsea in the Champions League is also clear in the spirit of Bompastor.
“It feels really great to be dominant in England, but we didn't win the Champions League. Our goal and ambition is to ensure that we participate against the best teams in Europe. Barcelona for sure, but also teams like Lyon,” she said.
The second half of the blues season did not see their best performance, but they did produce results, especially in their own country. But it has also shown that Chelsea could be used with a few tweaks from Chelsea.
Skinner added: “In Games this year you could have got Chelsea. I don't think most teams in the competition have maximized that, so let's take a look.”
It is clear that few teams can compete financially with the blues, at least for the near future. Although investments are still the key, there are other ways to improve in an attempt to match Chelsea.
Although they seem a discouraging prospect, nothing is infallible. But it will be a big summer for many of these teams, which will try to improve again in a bid for silverware.