PREVIEW: Manchester City v Chelsea

Manchester City and Chelsea will be looking to move to within 90 minutes of another FA Women’s Continental League Cup final appearance when the two sides meet in the quarter-final stage at The Academy Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The hosts last won the trophy in 2019 while Chelsea are the current holders after defeating Arsenal 2-1 in last season’s final at The City Ground in Nottingham.

Manchester City go into the tie on the back of an exceptional 7-0 victory over Aston Villa in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League on Sunday. City went into that fixture with head coach Gareth Taylor in precautionary self-isolation therefore assistant Alan Mahon took charge of the side. Ellie Roebuck, Gemma Bonner, Demi Stokes and Caroline Weir were all notable absentees for the Villa game and it is not currently known whether any of those players will be available for the midweek showdown with Chelsea.

City will again be without long-term absentees Aoife Mannion and Megan Campbell while Abby Dahlkemper, Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle are away on international duty at the United States’ January camp.

Chelsea leapfrogged Manchester United into top spot in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table on Sunday after beating The Red Devils 2-1 at Kingsmeadow. With The Blues facing a frantic run of fixtures and now in pole position to secure a consecutive league title, it remains to be seen whether manager Emma Hayes will opt to use her squad depth to rotate her side for the trip to The Academy Stadium. Chelsea have no real injury concerns therefore manager Hayes has the players available to her should she wish to make changes without disrupting the flow of her side.

Manchester City’s FA Women’s Continental League Cup quarter-final tie against Chelsea is scheduled to kick-off at 5.30pm on Wednesday evening with the match available for fans to stream live on the FA Player.

Daniel Pentland

I am the editor and owner of FAWSL Full-Time magazine. I have been reporting on men’s and women’s football at various levels since summer 2015. Some of the events which I have reported from include the 2017 UEFA Women’s European Championship, 2018 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, SSE Women’s FA Cup final, Emirates FA Cup final, UEFA Europa League, English Football League and various international matches.

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