The 2023/24 WSL is only one game old at this stage but two sides that will expect to be battling it out for the title, Manchester City and Chelsea, are going head to head in a hotly-anticipated fixture.
Both Man City and Chelsea got themselves off to winning starts, with last season’s champions managing to win 2-1 at home against Tottenham, whilst Man City beat West Ham 2-0 in London despite playing the last 20 minutes with 10 players.
It is a bumper weekend of action all around in the WSL because Manchester United are going to be taking on Arsenal, meaning last season’s top four are all against each other on Matchday 2.
Here is all that you need to know about Man City vs Chelsea in the WSL this weekend.
Man City vs Chelsea H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current form (WSL)
Country | TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | BBC Two, BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer |
United States | Paramount+ |
Canada | Sportsnet World Now, Sportsnet Now, Sportsnet Now Plus, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet World |
Jill Roord was handed a first Man City start in the opening game against West Ham United and given she grabbed one of their two goals, she is expected to hold her place. Of course, City will be without Leila Ouahabi after she was sent off for reacting to a challenge from the Hammers’ Emma Harries.
Last season’s record-breaking top scorer Khadija Shaw wasn’t in the matchday squad last weekend.
Man City predicted lineup vs Chelsea (4-3-3): Keating; Aleixandri, Kennedy, Greenwood, Stokes; Hasegawa, Castellanos, Roord; Kelly, Hemp, Fowler
The match against Tottenham came too soon for Sam Kerr to make her return for Chelsea but she should feature now. The other good news for Emma Hayes’ side is that Fran Kirby made her return from injury the injury that ruled her out of the World Cup as a substitute in the win over Tottenham.
Hayes is not expected to tinker heavily with what was a winning formula over Tottenham, so expect the likes of Lauren James, Millie Bright and Guro Reiten to continue leading the side.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs Man City (4-2-3-1): Musovic; Mjelde, Bright, Carter, Charles; Ingle, Nusken; Kirby, James, Reiten; Kerr
This is not an easy one to call because both squads have got some incredible players and whilst it will be a tougher job for City than Chelsea, they both share the same goal for this WSL season.
Given Chelsea are the current champions and Hayes has got Kirby potentially ready to make her first start in a long time, the Blues have to be narrow favourites to get all three points in Manchester.
