9 min: Carter needs a little treatment after picking up a knock on a surge down the right flank. She’s Chelsea’s third-choice right-back. They really could do without her getting injured but they do have Hannah Blundell on the bench and who could play there and she’s been capped by England.
8 min: She doesn’t whip it in very well though and Wolfsburg clear a low cross all too easily on the edge of the box.
7 min: Popp shoves Kerr in the back in a dangerous crossing position on the left. Cuthbert will whip it in.
6 min: Wolfsburg have their first attack. Hendrick swings a deep cross towards Pajor at the back post, but Berger towers above all and claims with two firm hands. That was authoritative goalkeeping.
4 min: Harder stretches her legs down the right wing and drills a low cross in towards Kerr but this time the Wolfsburg defence stands firm and Janssen clears.
3 min: Wolfsburg look particularly rusty here. Engen is the second player to make a hash of a clearance in a few moments. Kerr pounces on the loose ball but she is hustled towards the byline and the ball runs out for a goal-kick. This is a high-intensity start by Chelsea, though. Hayes will be delighted.
1 min: Chelsea get the game under way. They’s shooting from right to left on my screen. They immediately win a throw on the right. Kerr flicks the ball on to Kirby but she’s outnumbered and Wolfsburg clear.
The players are out at the Ferenc Puskás Stadium in Budapest, where the weather is glorious. It’s 22c and, unlike London, the sun is shining through clear skies. Chelsea, in blue, are led out by captain Magda Eriksson, while Wolfsburg, in high-vis green march out with skipper Alexandra Popp at the front. It’s almost time for football!
Here’s Suzanne Wrack’s story on the big news at Arsenal:
Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro is to leave the WSL club at the end of the season. The 51-year-old Australian has been in the job since November 2017 and guided the Gunners to the 2018-19 Women’s Super League title. His tenure has also included winning the Continental League Cup in 2018. Arsenal said in a statement on their official website that Montemurro, whose side are currently fourth in the WSL table, has “decided to take a professional break to recharge and dedicate more time to spending with his family”.
Both teams won their league games by a two-goal margin at the weekend. Wolfsburg beat SC Sand 3-1 but they remain in second place five points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who they may face in the semi-finals if they get past Chelsea. Chelsea took care of Aston Villa 2-0 thanks to a Sam Kerr double to move above Manchester City to the top of the WSL. You can read more about that win here:
Wolfsburg: Kiedrzynek, Hendrich, Janssen, Huth, Popp (c), Rauch, Rolfö, Engen, Blomqvist, Pajor, Doorsoun. Subs: Schult, Abt, Jakabfi, Blässe, Saevik, Svava, Wolter, Dickenmann, Van de Sanden, Wedemeyer, Goessling, Cordes.
Chelsea: Berger, Bright, Ingle, Carter, Leupolz, Kirby, Eriksson (c), Kerr, Cuthbert, Harder, Andersson. Subs: Musovic, Telford, Blundell, England, Ji, Reiten, Fleming, Spence, Fox, Beever-Jones.
Referee: Anastasia Pustovoitova (RUS)
For Chelsea, Carter comes in for the suspended Charles and Cuthbert is preferred to Ji in midfield.
For Wolfsburg, Blomqvist is in for the suspended Oberdorf.
Hello everyone! This one could not be more finely balanced. Chelsea take a 2-1 lead back to Budapest (the go-to place for European football in Covid times) after a first leg in which they “suffered” - as manager Emma Hayes put it – but dug deep to record a first win in seven attempts against the German champions. Hayes thought the maturity of her side helped them “close the gap” to Europe’s elite but having Pernille Harder, who was a Wolfsburg player last season, among her ranks was also very handy. She scored what turned out to be the decisive goal in the first leg.
Wolfsburg dominated large spells of the game last week and Hayes will surely want her side to be more dominant in midfield, where the Germans were so strong. Even if they do see less of the ball than their opponents, in Sam Kerr and Fran Kirby they have two clinical strikers who gobble up chances when they come. They are the second and third top scorers in the WSL, just behind Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema and they’re reminiscent of another famous double act, according to Hayes:
They are yin and yang – one goes one way, one goes the other. Some call it telepathy, some call it chemistry, some call it a brilliant partnership. Yorke and Cole, I think about those two and I think of Kerr and Kirby.
It’s hard to call which way this one might go but I feel that Chelsea will have to score an away goal to progress. And they certainly have the players to do that.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3rDYepc
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