A blog of two halves

Chelsea aim to put cup final heartbreak behind them with televised clash at Man Utd

Chelsea Women travel to Manchester this weekend, with the game being shown live on the BBC.

10 April 2024
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Chelsea Manager Emma Hayes during the FA Women's League Cup Final match between Arsenal and Chelsea
Image credit
Getty Images

Chelsea Women travel to Manchester this weekend following the short international break, determined to reach another FA Cup final.

They face Man Utd in the semi-final at Leigh Sports Village at 2.35pm on Sunday (14 April), live on the BBC.

It's a chance to put defeat by Arsenal in the League Cup final behind them, with gaffer Emma Hayes now on the last lap of her long adventure at Chelsea.

Then, on Wednesday night (17 April), Aston Villa come to Kingsmeadow for Hayes' penultimate match in charge at the stadium in Norbiton where she has enjoyed such success.

Only Chelsea v Bristol City remains to be played there, on Sunday 5 May. That match has been chosen for live television broadcast because of its significance for the manager.

The rest of the season's Women's Super League, European and (potentially) cup matches are either away fixtures, being played at Stamford Bridge, or taking place at neutral grounds.

Lauren James during the FA Women's League Cup Final
Image credit
Getty Images

As always, Hayes is having to juggle her squad. She needs to check if anyone has returned from international duties with injuries, and hold some players back in reserve for that impending league game, to ensure the Blues keep pace with an increasingly impressive Manchester City side.

Looming in the distance is the eagerly awaited clash with Barcelona in the Champions League semis, at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 27 April.

A big crowd is expected for the game – the second leg following the trip to Spain on 20 April. Initially, all the lower tiers of the stadium are being sold, but if the result in Barcelona is close, expect a late surge of ticket buying, and other areas will be opened up.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

Tim Harrison

Tim is our Chelsea FC blogger.

He also writes our Shepherds Bush Cricket Club match reports during the football close season.

Tim has been writing Chelsea match reports since the late 1980s for newspapers and, more recently, websites.

When he first reported on the Blues, the press box was a metal cage suspended over the lip of the old west stand - and you reached it via a precarious walkway over the heads of the fans.

But he has been a Chelsea fan since his father took an excited seven-year-old to watch Chelsea v Manchester United in the mid 1960s... and covered his ears every time the chanting got too ripe.

In July 2005 he wrote The Rough Guide to Chelsea, published by Penguin, which sold 15,000 copies.

His favourite player of all time is Charlie Cooke, the mazy winger who lit up Chelsea's left wing in the 60s and 70s.

When he isn't watching the Blues, Tim acts, paints, writes and researches local history.

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