Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku (left) rues a missed chance during the UEFA Champions League, Group H match at Allianz Stadium, Turin. Picture date: Wednesday September 29, 2021.
Chelsea fans have a double treat in store tomorrow – the women and men’s sides are playing at home.
Chelsea Women start the ball rolling with an 11.30am kick-off against Brighton, while the men, will have to quickly bounce back against Southampton at Stamford Bridge at 3pm, having only got back on Thursday from their 1-0 Champions League group match defeat away in Turin against Juventus.
The women will be much changed from the starting line-up that saw the west Londoners brush aside a dogged Birmingham City defence 4-0 on Wednesday night to set up a mouthwatering FA Cup semi-final away to Manchester City.
Head coach Emma Hayes made eight changes to the side that humiliated Manchester United 6-1 away on Sunday in the WSL.
But it was only the second-half introduction of Sam Kerr, Fran Kirby and Pernille Harder that finally broke the resistance of Birmingham.
Kerr nodded home a powerful header and this was quickly followed by a brace by Kirby, before Harder’s glancing header deep into added time gave the result a look that justified the overall superiority of the WSL champions.
But tomorrow it’s back to league action and a chance for Hayes to wipe away the humiliation of last season’s corresponding fixture, where the Blues lost 2-1 to Brighton.
Brighton coach Hope Powell does love to play the underdog, and Chelsea put out a weaker than normal starting 11 that day – perhaps feeding Powell’s pre-match talk to her players that their high-flying opposition did not take them seriously enough.
True or not, it gave the Seagulls extra motivation and the elation shown by the players after humbling the Blues on their own turf was palpable and it’s something Hayes cannot afford to see repeated.
Having lost their opening WSL fixture to high-flying Arsenal, Hayes cannot allow any more slip ups.
She will revert to her tried and tested back five with goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger back between the sticks in place of Zecira Musovic while skipper Magda Eriksson will be restored to the spine of the defence in place of new signing Aniek Nouwen.
Hayes has an embarrassment of riches to choose from in midfield, but the experienced Ji will almost certainly start, while the top three of Kerr, Kirby and Harder will be tasked with finishing off the expected dominance of possession with goals.
Men’s head coach Thomas Tuchel will have to find a solution to the opposition stopping the Blues from scoring.
The defeat in Turin comes after Manchester City inflicted a masterclass on them at the Bridge at the weekend.
The current Premier League champions were dominant in all positions and the west Londoners fell to a Gabriel Jesus goal in the 53rd minute.
Tuchel blamed a lack of sharpness as the Blues succumbed to a 46th minute goal by Federico Chiesa in Turin.
He said: “We gave away two crucial ball possessions that could have hurt us and we can’t have this at this level.
“They were so deep and so passive and we struggled to find our rhythm and apply our intensity.
“We were slow in our decision-making and we lacked that sharpness. We didn’t look fresh.”
Substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi said: “We came with the mentality and determination to win and we gave it our best, but it was not good enough.”
