A heavyweight clash awaits in this round of UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) fixtures as Chelsea Women play host to Barcelona Women at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night.
Both teams are unbeaten after three games in the competition, with Barcelona Women boasting a 100% record. Indeed, they are in a good position to qualify for the knockout stages.
Domestically, Chelsea Women suffered a blow to their hopes of retaining their Women’s Super League (WSL) title by dropping points in a 1-1 draw away to Liverpool Women last time out. Meanwhile, Barcelona Women thrashed their bitter rivals Real Madrid Women 4-0 on home soil.
In terms of recent meetings, both teams faced off against each other in the same competition last season, with Barcelona Women winning both H2Hs 4-1. However, with Chelsea Women having won all five of their home games in all competitions this term, the visitors may not have it all their own way this time.
How the bookies view it: Barcelona Women big favourites
BoyleSports have installed Barcelona Women as the 4/9 odds-on favourites to pick up all three points. Chelsea Women are rank outsiders with the same bookmaker at 10/3 odds.
Given the Blues’ home form though, we can see them getting a positive result even against the mighty Barca. We are backing a draw at 16/5 odds.
Recent head-to-head: Barcelona Women four-some
This corresponding fixture last season finished 4-1 to Barcelona Women. They blew Chelsea Women away in the first half, going three goals up with three different goalscorers.
Players to watch: Bonmati is back
Keira Walsh is up against her former club, and will need to control the midfield for Chelsea Women. She won plenty of major silverware during her time in Spain.
Aitana Bonmati should be part of Barcelona Women’s midfield, after recovering from an injury that kept her on the bench against Real Madrid Women. The current Women’s Ballon d’Or winner poses a major threat to Chelsea Women and their chances of getting a positive result.
Predicted lineups
Hannah Hampton, Kadeisha Buchanan and Mayra Ramirez are all still injured and so will play no part for Chelsea Women.
Although Bonmati should return to the starting XI for Barcelona Women, Patri Guijarro, Salma Paralluelo and Esmee Brugts are unlikely to feature because of injury.
Chelsea Women: Peng; Bronze, Bjorn, Girma, Charles; Thompson, Cuthbert, Walsh, Kaptein, Baltimore; Beever-Jones.
Barcelona Women: Coll; Camara, Paredes, Leon, Batlle; Bonmati, Lopez, Putellas; Graham Hansen, Pina, Pajor.
Anything else catch the eye?
With both teams capable of scoring plenty of goals in attack, as they have demonstrated on many occasions already this season, we could see another high-scoring clash here like the two 4-1s last season. Over 3.5 total goals can be backed at 5/4 odds with BoyleSports.
In the same vein, we could look specifically at goals in the first half in terms of the types of markets available from the same bookmaker. As was the case in the previous H2H, we could see Over 1.5 total goals in the first half alone at 6/5 odds with BoyleSports.
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