Man City Manchester City

Chelsea Chelsea

WHEN AND WHERE

Women's Team

Leadership at the core for Taylor’s title hopefuls

The game will take place at The Academy Stadium on Wednesday 21 April, with kick-off scheduled for 18:00 BST (6pm UK).

The match will be broadcast live on BT Sport and you can also keep up to date with all the action as it on unfolds on our Twitter page: @ManCityWomen and our Matchday Centre.

A comprehensive match report, as well as reaction from Gareth Taylor and one of our players, will also be available just after full-time here on ManCity.com and the Man City App.

Next Fixture

All fixtures

Wed 21 Apr

FA WSL

Man City

18:00

BST

Chelsea

GET INVOLVED

We miss seeing you guys at the Academy Stadium but you can get involved from home on matchday by:

• Tweeting the Academy Stadium big screen with your messages as the team warm up using #CityBigScreen. Let’s get as many of your messages of support up there as possible to get behind the team!
• Follow the @CitySquareLive Twitter and Instagram accounts to see behind-the-scenes on matchday and catch PA announcer Alex at the Academy Stadium, who will have a full breakdown of how we shape up.
• We will also have a matchday giveaway you can enter at full-time to win a full team signed shirt. Head over to the City Square Live Twitter to enter from 19:45 (UK time) after the match
• Finally, each matchday we have a Junior Cityzen of the Match, who joins the starting 11 on our stadium screens at the Academy as the team is read out! They also feature in the programme and receive a City Goodie Bag, and full kit!
• With only a few home matches of the season left, you can still enter to be a Junior Cityzen of the Match for a future game on the Cityzens portal, and catch the announcement for each game on the City Square Live Twitter in the hour before kick-off!

MATCH PROGRAMME

View your FREE digital edition of the City v Chelsea matchday programme here...

RULES

Women's Team

City v Chelsea: Free digital matchday programme

For safety reasons in the wake of the pandemic, the fixture will be played behind closed doors.

In line with current protocols, additional balls will be placed at intervals around the pitch.

FORM GUIDE

City head into this top of the table clash in remarkable league form, having won 12 league matches in succession to put us just two points behind table-toppers Chelsea.

Chelsea are in good form themselves and haven’t lost in their last six league fixtures.

Gareth Taylor‘s side will be hoping to secure three points at the Academy Stadium to propel City to the top of the table with only three league matches remaining this season.

TEAM NEWS

Gareth Taylor says Steph Houghton will be monitored on a weekly basis with the hope of a return before the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

Providing a squad update ahead of the must-win encounter, the Head Coach added he has no fresh injury concerns.

“I think that apart from the ones we are aware of, everyone has come through okay,” he stated.

“I don’t think there is anything different from Saturday’s game against Villa. There are no new injuries. We are looking pretty good.

“It’s still similar with Steph with it being relatively painful in that area. As much as she wants to do more and push it more, that pain is giving her an issue.

“I think it will be assessed on a weekly basis. There may be a chance to get her back for future games, especially after winning the FA Cup game, which extends the season by an extra game in mid-May. Fingers crossed.

“Steph has done an enormous amount this season. It’s about looking at the bigger picture. For the sake of one or two games, we don’t want to jeopardise her opportunities in the summer with the Olympics or put her out further down the line.”

Emma Hayes has a full squad available, aside from long-term absentee Maren Mjelde.

Gareth Taylor preview

“I think we have shown amazing concentration and desire to get to this point so that’s a massive well done to the players. We are excited and looking forward to it.

“This is where we wanted to get to in early February when we beat Arsenal and came back to the City Football Academy and beat United on the Friday.

“That gave us hope and an opportunity that if we looked after our own end, it would be in our hands. To be there in this moment is fantastic and what an opportunity.

“It is a big moment. These are the reasons why you coach and why you want to be a manager – for moments like this.

“I saw Pep Guardiola’s comments at the weekend about big games. This is what we are in it for. It’s where we want to be.

“I think it is a great advert for the women’s game – two big clubs slugging it out. These are the moments we should cherish.”

LAST MEETING

City were eliminated from the Continental Cup the last time these two sides met in any competition back in January.

The last WSL encounter also ended in a similar fashion, with Chelsea securing a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture in October.

The reigning champions took a first-half lead in controversial circumstances through Maren Mjelde’s penalty after Ellen White was adjudged to have handled the ball.

However, TV replays showing the ball had instead struck Demi Stokes below the elbow and our hopes of staging a fightback were then dealt a further blow when Sam Kerr doubled the Chelsea advantage 12 minutes into the second half.

Gareth Taylor’s side summoned up a response through Chloe Kelly’s 773rd-minute penalty after Millie Bright had handled a Caroline Weir cross.

But Fran Kirby sealed the deal for the hosts by firing home 11 minutes from time.

LAST TIME OUT

City come into this game brimming with confidence after thrashing Aston Villa 8-0 in the FA Women’s Cup.

A Chloe Kelly hat-trick (her first for the Club), plus goals from Ellen White, Janine Beckie, Georgia Stanway, Rose Lavelle and Sam Mewis claimed another emphatic triumph, as the holders produced a ruthless display to kick-off our defence of the trophy in style and go into this encounter with Chelsea with confidence.

Interviews

Cityzens Press Conference: Fans quiz Sam Mewis

STATS

• Gareth Taylor‘s side are currently the second-highest scorers in this season’s FA Women’s Super League with 58 goals in 19 games - second to only Chelsea, who have 60 goals in 19 matches.
• City’s defeat to the league leader in October is our only loss of the league season.
• We also boast the second-best defensive record in the league, conceding only 11 times in 19 games - second to Chelsea again, who have conceded eight times in 19 matches.
  • City won five our the first seven league clashes between the two sides but have not beaten Emma Hayes’ side in our their last seven top-flight meetings (D5 L2).
  • Chelsea have never beaten City away from home in the Women’s Super League (D4 L3) - the only side they’ve visited more than once without managing to win in the competition.
  • City continued our record-equalling winning run at Spurs last time out, moving onto 12 straight FA WSL wins, whilst also keeping clean sheets in our last six. The WSL record for consecutive clean sheets is seven - already held by both City (May 2016), and Chelsea (twice – October 2017 and January 2019).
  • Since their defeat to Brighton in February, Chelsea have won six WSL games in a row without conceding a single goal. Away from home, the Londoners remain unbeaten in 37 league games (W25 D12) since a 0-1 defeat at City back in May 2017.
  • No other players have had a direct hand in more WSL goals in 2020-21 than Chelsea duo Fran Kirby (14G, 10A) and Sam Kerr (17G, 5A), whilst only the aforementioned two and Vivianne Miedema (22), have managed more than Man City’s Chloe Kelly (7G, 11A).