Preview: Chelsea Women vs. Manchester City Women – prediction, team news, lineups

Chelsea Women and Manchester City Women will go head-to-head in Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash at Stamford Bridge.

The hosts are sitting in second place in the Women’s Super League table and one adrift of the visitors, who have played one game more than their title rivals.

Match preview

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Sonia Bompastor boasts a perfect record as Chelsea manager, having seen her side win all of her nine competitive matches in charge.

Chelsea have recorded six of those victories in the WSL, including a commanding 3-0 win in last Sunday’s away clash against Liverpool which came courtesy of goals from Mayra Ramirez, Guro Reiten and Aggie Beever-Jones.

The Blues were made to work much harder for the win in their midweek Women’s Champions League game against Celtic, with the WSL side forced to come behind to claim a narrow 2-1 victory at Celtic Park.

Maika Hamano cancelled out Murphy Agnew‘s opener, before Ashley Lawrence scored what proved to be the decisive goal in a game where Chelsea finished with 10 players following Beever-Jones’s late red card.

Having competed in three consecutive away games, Chelsea will be looking forward to having home advantage for Saturday’s crucial league clash, especially as they have won 37 of their previous 39 WSL home matches (D1, L1).

However, their only home defeat in that period took place in their most recent league meeting with Man City in February when Bunny Shaw scored the winning goal to condemn Chelsea to a 1-0 loss.

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Man City will also head into Saturday’s fixture in a positive mood, having won 11 and drawn one of their 12 competitive matches this season.

Since drawing with Arsenal in September, Man City have gone on to claim 10 consecutive victories, including back-to-back home wins in their last two outing.

The Citizens produced a free-scoring display to sweep past Tottenham Hotspur via a 4-0 scoreline, before they went on to clinch a 2-0 Women’s Champions League victory over Hammarby.

Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino grabbed a goal apiece to help Man City get the better of their Swedish opponents, leaving them top of Group D and three points clear of reigning European champions Barcelona.

After enjoying European success in midweek, the Citizens will now turn their focus back to domestic action as they look to claim a third consecutive away league victory.

In fact, Man City have won 10 of their previous 11 WSL away matches since they fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in November 2023.

Chelsea Women Women’s Super League form:

Chelsea Women form (all competitions):

Manchester City Women Women’s Super League form:

Manchester City Women form (all competitions):

Team News

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Chelsea are still without the services of Sam Kerr, Sophie Ingle, Mia Fishel, Aniek Nouwen and Niamh Charles due to injury.

England international Lauren James also remains unavailable for selection after missing the last five matches with a calf issue.

After making several changes in midweek, Bompastor is set to recall Hannah Hampton, Lucy Bronze, Kadiesha Buchanan, Millie Bright, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Sjoeke Nusken, Reiten and Ramirez.

As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Vivianne Miedema, Risa Shimizu, Laia Aleixandri, Naomi Layzell and Sandy MacIver.

Man City boss Gareth Taylor has revealed that Lauren Hemp remains a doubt after she missed the win over Hammarby due to a knee issue.

Having scored seven league goals this season, Shaw will be looking to continue her fine form when she leads the line against Chelsea.

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Hampton; Bronze, Buchanan, Bright, Baltimore; Rytting Kaneryd, Hamano, Nusken, Cuthbert, Reiten; Ramirez

Manchester City Women possible starting lineup:
Yamashita; Casparij, Kennedy, Greenwood, Ouahabi; Park, Hasegawa, Roord; Fujino, Fowler, Shaw

We say: Chelsea Women 1-1 Manchester City Women

With both teams yet to lose this season, Chelsea and Man City will both be determined to maintain their unbeaten records when they go toe-to-toe on Saturday, and we think they could preserve those streaks by playing out a draw in a close-fought contest.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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