Emma Hayes praised the impact of debutant Mia Fishel after Chelsea's summer signing scored on her Super League debut in Sunday's 2-1 victory over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. 

The defending champions, aiming for a fifth successive title, took the lead via Fishel's header past Becky Spencer just before the half-hour mark. 

Lauren James then picked up where she left off last season, side-footing home from Guro Reiten's cross just seconds after the Norwegian had seen a goal ruled out. 

Tottenham's Martha Thomas, who missed a succession of chances earlier in the game, scored late on to give Chelsea a nervous finish but the champions held on for a deserved win. 

And it was Fishel's performance that Hayes singled out after a summer disrupted by international commitments. 

The Blues boss said: "She's one player that's been with us the whole of pre-season. 

"I think it's really helped her because she's been able to build some relations and work on parts of her game in the last six weeks. 

"We've been able to do a lot of individual work with her and get up to the speed of the way our team plays. 

"I still think there's other steps for her to take. Her link-up play, her hold-up play has been really good, but sometimes we want a second movement from her. 

"But she's smart, really smart, and I think she grew in the game. Even when she tired, she made good decisions. I'm really not surprised to see her get a goal." 

Preparations for the season opener had been largely hampered by a several of Hayes' players going deep into the World Cup with their national teams and then being on duty for the Nations League. 

She added: "We had a lot of players away on the international break and at the World Cup. I'm just looking forward to a full week of training with the whole squad. 

"The game reflected some really good moments, some bad moments, some mediocre moments. I think that's to be expected from the first game of the season."

New Spurs boss Robert Vilahamn was content with his side's performance, despite coming away from the Bridge empty-handed. 

He said: "I was very, very happy with how they performed. It was hard before this game to know where we are. 

"After 97 minutes. I realised we have taken big steps. We created goal chances, we scored one and we should have scored a few more perhaps."