“I’ve got wonderful players,” the wonderful Emma Hayes tells BT. In interview, she’s much more bullish than Alan Mahon: she expects her team to win and is clear about how important that is; Mahon gives it the just another game, long way to go shtick. I know who I find more convincing.
I’m looking forward to seeing how England does today. She’s been in terrific form this season, and City will have to go some to contain her. Their midfield need to have a proper one today, because I can’t see their defence doing enough if they’re exposed to a serious amount of pressure.
City have opted against starting Pauline Bremer, presumably mindful of Chelsea’s attacking prowess. Only Vivianne Miedema and Beth England have more league goals that Bremer this season; I’d expect her to turn up in the second half, when legs are tired.
Elsewhere: Manchester United are 2-0 up away to Everton, playing their first game at their new Walton Hall ground. Arsenal, meanwhile, are being held 0-0 by Lewes in the FA Cup.
Teams!
Manchester City: Roebuck, Stokes, Bonner, Houghton (C), Scott, Stanway, Beckie, Hemp, White, Weir, Walsh. Subs: Benameur, Coombs, Bremer, Toland, Park, Wullaert, Fidalgo.
Chelsea: Berger, Bright, Ingle, England, Ji, Reiten, Eriksson, Mjelde, Kerr, Cuthbert, Andersson. Subs: Telford, Thorisdottir, Carter, Blundell, Engman, Spence, Bachmann.
Preamble
This is a colossal, monumental, gargantuan piece of fixture. As things stand, City sit top of the table and have won their last six league games; but that run started after defeat as Chelsea, who are a point behind them with a game in hand, having won their last nine matches in all competitions. And that’s not all, because just two points behind them are Arsenal, last season’s champions and Chelsea’s opponents in next weekend’s WSL Cup final.
Which is to say that the standard at the top of the WSL is extremely ridiculous, which is to say that it’s extremely difficult to guess – and it will be a guess – what will happen when the best teams play. Both City and Chelsea have been brilliant at the back and devastating in attack, City slightly better at the former and Chelsea significantly better at the latter. But the match-up and the match-ups tell us more about what’s likely to happen this afternoon than the comparative kickings handed out to lesser lights.
City’s defence – which has conceded just six times in 15 league games will be asked serious questions by Erin Cuthbert and Beth England, but even if Steph Houghton and pals can cope with that, Maren Mjelde and Ji So-yun pose an even greater threat. And City finding and answer to all that looks a lot less likely than Chelsea curbing Ellen White and Pauline Bremer – all the more so given the recent departure of Nick Cushing, City’s manager, and the epochal brilliance of Emma Hayes, Chelsea’s long-serving incumbent. But, either way, this is a treat.
Kick-off: 2pm GMT
Updated
