Chelsea Women return to the Women’s Super League (WSL) this weekend after the international break. The league leaders will take on Brighton, who sits fifth in the standings. The Blues, the most successful WSL team in history under former manager Emma Hayes, have shown no signs of slowing down or requiring a transition period under her successor, Sonia Bompastor. They remain in contention to win all four competitions they are competing in.
This March, Chelsea will play eight matches, featuring in every competition available this month. Their packed schedule includes fixtures in the WSL, League Cup, FA Cup, and the UEFA Women’s Champions League. In the WSL, they hold a seven-point lead over second-placed Manchester United.
In a league season, teams face each other twice, home and away. It is not uncommon for one of these fixtures to coincide with a cup match. Chelsea have already experienced such a scenario, playing Everton back-to-back, first in the FA Cup and then in the WSL. However, that pales in comparison to what they have in store after their next three matches.
Facing Manchester City in cup competitions
The Blues will face Manchester City four times in a row across three competitions. One of Chelsea’s next three matches is an FA Cup quarterfinal, and had they been drawn against Manchester City, the two sides would have met five times in succession. Nevertheless, this rare sequence of four consecutive meetings came together due to the way the fixtures aligned.
It begins with the League Cup final, made possible by both teams advancing to the showdown. Following that, they will clash in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, having been drawn against each other in the competition. These matches will take place around their second WSL fixture of the season, which had already been scheduled at the start of the campaign.
The first of these four meetings will be the League Cup final on March 15 at Pride Park in Derby. Despite reaching the final in the past three seasons, Chelsea have been on the losing side each time, with the first of those defeats coming against Manchester City in 2022.
After the final, Manchester City will host Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal before welcoming them again on Sunday for their WSL clash. The fourth and final match of this series will take place at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea will aim to do enough in the second leg to progress to the semifinals of the continental competition for the third consecutive season.
Chelsea should take confidence from their recent head-to-head record against Manchester City, despite their struggles in previous League Cup finals. The last time the two sides met was at Stamford Bridge in November, where the Blues won 2-0 thanks to Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten's goals. Before that, they faced off in the League Cup semifinal at Manchester City’s Joie Stadium in the previous season. Chelsea emerged victorious, courtesy of a Lauren James goal.
Overall, in their last 20 meetings with Manchester City, Chelsea have won 10 times while losing only three. Their overall form this season under Sonia Bompastor has been outstanding. Across 24 matches, they have won 23 and drawn once.
What makes this record even more impressive is the number of players they have been without due to injuries. Key players like Sam Kerr and Mia Fishel are still recovering from long-term injuries.
Meanwhile, others, such as Sophie Ingle and Kadeisha Buchanan, have been ruled out for the rest of the season. Lauren James and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd only recently returned from injury. But Erin Cuthbert, Nathalie Björn, and Maelys Mpome remain doubtful for the upcoming fixtures. January signing Naomi Girma is yet to make her debut due to injury.
When these players return, Chelsea will only improve further. However, despite their impressive unbeaten run, there have been challenges that Sonia Bompastor and her coaching staff have navigated exceptionally well. Fans will be hoping she continues to do so as Chelsea enters a crucial period in the season, where their prospects in all four competitions hang in the balance.