Key occasions
11 min: Bunny Shaw takes down a go from deep and advances in the direction of the Chelsea aim, intently marked by Nathalie Bjorn. The Metropolis striker is unable to shake off the Chelsea defender and runs the ball out of play for a goal-kick.
10 min: Chelsea’s opening aim survives a VAR verify for offside.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Man Metropolis (Ramirez 8)
Chelsea lead! It’s in opposition to the run of play however Chelsea rating the primary aim. Mayra Ramirez latches on to a by means of ball from Lauren James however is denied by Ayaka Yamashita, who stands tall within the one-on-one. The ball cannons off a defender and rebounds into the trail of Ramirez, who is ready to stroll it into the online.
7 min: Metropolis have began properly and win their first nook of the sport after good work from Vivianne Miedema. Leila Ouahabi’s supply is an inswinger off her left foot however Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton plucks the ball from the sky.
6 min: Now Lucy Bronze known as upon to clear a Metropolis supply into the Chelsea field, the place Fowler was lurking with intent.
5 min: Sandy Baltimore clears a Mary Fowler cross in the direction of the far submit from the left together with her head as Chelsea repel Manchester Metropolis’s first assault of observe on this ultimate.
2 min: Bunny Shaw requires medical consideration after the primary of what may very well be many collisons with Chelsea centre-back Millie Vibrant over the subsequent two weeks. The Metropolis striker has harm her knee however is OK to proceed.
1 min: The pitch at Delight Park is somewhat threadbare, as Johanna Rytting Kaneryd darts up the within left earlier than making an attempt to sidefoot the ball into the trail of Mayra Ramirez. Manchester Metropolis intercept and clear.
Chelsea v Manchester Metropolis is go …
1 min: Following a second’s silence for Poppy Atkinson, a 10-year-old Manchester United fan who was killed in a tragic accident whereas taking part in soccer in Cumbria final week, Manchester Metropolis get the ball rolling. Their gamers are in all burgundy equipment, whereas Chelsea’s put on blue shirts and quick, with qwhite socks.
Not lengthy now: Referee Emily Heaslip and her workforce of match officers lead the gamers of either side out on to the Delight Park pitch, the place they line up for the final of the pre-match formalities, together with the nationwide anthem. Millie Vibrant and Laia Aleixandri are the skippers.
Sonia Bompastor: “We’re prepared”
“I would be the most comfortable particular person if we win on Saturday however only for my gamers and for the membership,” stated the Chelsea head coach. “The sport is a chance for the membership to seize the primary trophy. We stated from the start of the season, we wish to be in each competitors able the place we will struggle for titles. It’s a very necessary second for the membership. I’m anticipating Nick to have the ability to deliver some optimistic power to Metropolis, however we’re prepared.”
Nick Cushing: “We’ve bought to embrace it”
“Within the earlier groups I had [at City], there have been nice individuals,” stated the membership’s interim supervisor within the build-up to immediately’s recreation. “I met this workforce this week and it’s precisely the identical.
“They’re actually good individuals with an actual starvation to proceed to win. I’ve been capable of take these moments in my stride. The subsequent 4 video games are the final word problem for our group, so we’ve bought to embrace it and assault it.”
Chelsea: Whereas she gained’t play immediately, star striker Sam Kerr has been included in Chelsea’s squad for the Ladies’s Champions League knock-out rounds in a sign she is nearing a return from harm. Jack Snape experiences …
Chelsea v Manchester Metropolis line-ups
Chelsea: Hampton; Bronze, Vibrant, Björn, Baltimore; Nüsken, Cuthbert, Macario; Rytting Kaneryd, Ramirez, James
Subs: Spencer, Lawrence, Charles, Jean-Francois, Brown, Kaptein, Hamano, Beever-Jones, Fishel.
Man Metropolis: Yamashita; Casparij, Prior, Aleixandri, Ouahabi; Hasegawa, Roord, Miedema, Fujino, Shaw, Fowler.
Subs: Keating, Layzell, Coombs, Wienroither, Kerolin, Park, Blindkilde Brown, Oyama, Murphy.
Faye Carruthers is joined by commentary field legend and nationwide treasure Robyn Cowan, and Guardian writers Suzanne Wrack and Tom Garry to debate Gareth Taylor’s exit from Manchester Metropolis and immediately’s Subway Ladies’s League Cup Remaining, amongst different subjects. You possibly can hear right here and should you’re not already a subscriber, the place have you ever been?!?!?! Join free wherever you get your podcasts.
At present’s match officers
Bompastor’s seamless Chelsea transition
Chelsea: Historical past has all too usually illustrated that when a pacesetter departs a sporting dynasty it’s a removed from simple adjustment; that it’ll take a while to regroup and recalibrate. For Chelsea, nevertheless, the transition from Emma Hayes’s decade-long reign to new beginnings beneath Sonia Bompastor seems to have induced barely a ripple. Phrases: Sophie Downey.
Early workforce information
Chelsea’s star striker and long-term absentee, Sam Kerr, is within the late phases of her restoration from a ruptured ACL however stays unavailable. She is quick approaching a return and has been named in her aspect’s Champions League squad for the rest of the match. The membership’s record-breaking signing Naomi Girma can also be out with a calf harm she suffered on her Chelsea debut a fortnight in the past. Maelys Mpome, Guro Reiten, Mia Fishel and Keira Walsh are additionally sidelined.
Manchester Metropolis’s German worldwide centre-back Rebecca Knaak is out with a hamstring harm, however winger Aoba Fujino may return after recovering from a foot downside. Long run absentees Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp are additionally out as they proceed their recoveries from severe knee accidents. Greenwood has deserted the tedium of life on the stationary bike for coaching on the grass, however Hemp is somewhat additional behind in her restoration.
Ladies’s League Cup ultimate: Chelsea v Manchester Metropolis
Welcome every person. You be part of us in the beginning of fairly the twoodyssey and what would be the first of 4 video games in a row between Chelsea and Manchester Metropolis throughout three completely different competitions over the subsequent 12 days.
It’s a outstanding quirk of each circumstances and the calendar and if the hoary outdated noticed that familiarity breeds contempt is appropriate, the gamers from either side will fully sick of the sight of one another as soon as they’ve contested immediately’s League Cup ultimate, adopted by each legs of a Champions League quarter-final both aspect of a WSL encounter.
Unbeaten this season beneath Sonia Bompastor, Chelsea are preventing on 4 fronts at dwelling and overseas however immediately’s match represents their first likelihood to win silverware since their French head coach crammed the extraordinarily huge boots vacated by Emma Hayes on the finish of final season. The succession plan may scarcely have gone extra seamlessly however as we strategy the enterprise finish of the season, Manchester Metropolis have the chance to throw a number of spanners within the at the moment purring Chelsea works.
Put in as interim head coach at Manchester Metropolis till the tip of the season following the dismissal of Gareth Taylor on Monday, Nick Cushing might be hoping to supply a brand new supervisor bounce and will get off to a flyer by successful a ultimate in his first recreation in cost. He has type within the area of buying silverware with Manchester Metropolis, having gained the WSL, two League Cups and an FA Cup throughout a earlier seven-year reign on the membership that led to 2020. Kick-off at Delight Park is at 12.15pm (GMT) however we’ll have workforce information and build-up within the meantime.
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