Preview: Chelsea Women vs Manchester City Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Chelsea Women will kick off the defence of their Women's Super League title when they welcome Manchester City Women to Stamford Bridge on Friday.

The Blues are aiming to win an eighth consecutive WSL title, while the Citizens will have ambitions of becoming league champions for the first time since 2016.

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Match preview

Chelsea are aiming to complete their first quadruple after achieving a domestic treble in Sonia Bompastor's maiden campaign as Blues boss.

The West London club won 19 and drew three of their 22 matches to finish 12 points clear of second-placed Arsenal in the WSL, while they lifted the League Cup and FA Cup with final victories over Man City and Manchester United respectively. 

Meanwhile, in the Women's Champions League, they successfully negotiated their way to the semi-finals, before falling to a heavy defeat to Barcelona to prolong their wait for their first European trophy.

Chelsea have strengthened their squad since the end of last season, recruiting right-back Ellie Carpenter, forward Mara Alber and the goalkeeping duo of Livia Peng and Becky Spencer, with the latter returning on a permanent transfer following a loan spell.

The Blues are now fully focused on the new WSL and their fifth meeting with Man City in 2025, having already recorded three wins and one defeat against the Citizens in the current calendar year. 

Chelsea will certainly fancy their chances of picking up a positive result, considering that they have gone 25 WSL matches without defeat since losing 1-0 to Liverpool in May 2024 (W22, D3).

Manchester City will be looking for a significant improvement after experiencing a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, which saw them miss out on Champions League qualification with a fourth-placed finish.

The Citizens also failed to pick up any silverware, losing to Chelsea in the League Cup final and Champions League last eight, before falling short in April's FA Cup semi-final against Man United.

Man City will enter the new season under the guidance of Andree Jeglertz, who has taken over the reins after leaving his role as Denmark boss following their group-stage exit at Euro 2025.

The Citizens have made changes to their squad ahead of Jeglertz's first season, having bid farewell to Jill Roord, Laia Aleixandri and Chloe Kelly. 

They have strengthened their squad with the additions of Jade Rose, Eartha Cumings, Sydney Lohmann and Iman Beney, while Laura Wienroither has converted her loan move from Arsenal into a permanent transfer. 

Those new additions will try to help Man City claim their first league win over Chelsea since clinching a narrow 1-0 away win in February 2024. 

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Team News

Chelsea forward Mayra Ramirez is expected to be out until 2026 after she underwent surgery on a hamstring injury that she sustained in the recent friendly with AC Milan.

Attacker Lauren James will miss the start of the new season with an injury she picked up in England's journey to Euro 2025 glory. 

Sam Kerr is close to making her long-awaited return from injury, although it remains to be seen whether she will be ready to take her place in Friday's squad. 

As for Man City, they are expected to be without defender Rebecca Knaak, who sustained a meniscus injury while playing for Germany in July's Euro 2025 semi-final against Spain.

Forward Bunny Shaw will play her first competitive match since March's League Cup final defeat to Chelsea after seeing the 2024-25 campaign cut short due to injury. 

Jess Park is set to complete a move to local rivals Man United, but Grace Clinton is expected to move in the opposite direction, and therefore, could feature in the matchday squad. 

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:

Hampton; Carpenter, Bright, Girma, Baltimore; Walsh, Cuthbert; Rytting Kaneryd, Nusken, Beever-Jones; Macario

Manchester City Women possible starting lineup:

Keating; Rose, Prior, Greenwood; Casparij, Hasegawa, Lohmann, Beney; Kerolin, Miedema, Shaw

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We say: Chelsea Women 2-1 Manchester City Women

Chelsea may be without James and Ramirez, but Bompastor can still call upon a wealth of quality for the WSL curtain-raiser, and having already won three of their previous four games against Man City in 2025, we think that the Blues will do enough to condemn Jeglertz's side to a narrow defeat.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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