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Women's FA Cup | Quarter-Finals
Mar 19, 2023 at 2pm UK
Select Car Leasing Stadium

Reading Women
1 - 3
Chelsea Women

Troelsgaard (70')
Hendrix (25'), Bryson (45+3'), Troelsgaard (53')
FT(HT: 0-2)
Carter (23'), Naevdal Mjelde (26' pen.), Reiten (51')

Preview: Reading Women vs. Chelsea Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Sports Mole previews Sunday's Women's FA Cup clash between Reading Women and Chelsea Women, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Chelsea Women will continue their defence of the FA Cup trophy that they won last season when they travel to Berkshire for Sunday's quarter-final tie against Reading Women.

The Royals, meanwhile, will need to pull off a surprise result if they are to reach the semi-finals for the first time since the 2018-19 season.


Match preview

Reading Women manager Kelly Chambers is pictures before the match on January 15, 2023© Reuters

With Reading currently three points above the relegation place in the Women's Super League table, the FA Cup has proven to be a welcome distraction for Kelly Chambers's side.

Although the Royals are yet to win an FA Cup game in regulation time this season, they have managed to claw their way to the last eight.

Their fourth-round tie with Leicester City finished in a 2-2 draw after extra time, but the Royals kept their composure from 12 yards to advance thanks to a 3-2 penalty-shootout win.

They repeated the feat in the fifth round against Tottenham Hotspur, prevailing 5-4 on penalties after playing out a goalless draw.

The Royals face a difficult test on Sunday, but they can draw inspiration from the 1-0 victory that they recorded in their most recent home meeting with Chelsea in December 2021.

Chelsea Women's Sophie Ingle celebrates scoring their first goal with Lauren James on February 26, 2023© Reuters

Since losing to Arsenal in the League Cup final, Chelsea have bounced back with consecutive league victories.

After beating Brighton & Hove Albion, the Blues claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over title rivals Manchester United last weekend, thanks to a sublime strike from Sam Kerr.

The result moves Emma Hayes's side to the top of the WSL table, but they will now turn their attention to Sunday's FA Cup tie, as they look to keep their hopes alive of winning the trophy for a third consecutive season.

Chelsea began their FA Cup campaign with a 3-2 victory over Liverpool before goals from Sophie Ingle and Kerr guided them to a 2-0 win over Arsenal, securing them a place in the quarter-finals.

The Blues have only lost one away game this season - a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on the opening day of the season - and they will have the chance to extend their unbeaten away run to 12 competitive games on Sunday.

Reading Women Women's FA Cup form:
  • W
  • W

Reading Women form (all competitions):
  • L
  • W
  • L
  • W
  • W
  • L

Chelsea Women Women's FA Cup form:
  • W
  • W

Chelsea Women form (all competitions):
  • W
  • W
  • W
  • L
  • W
  • W


Team News

Chelsea Women manager Emma Hayes on February 26, 2023© Reuters

Long-term injury absentee Deanne Rose stepped up her recovery this week by taking part in pitch-based work, but the Reading defender is still some way off from returning to competitive action.

After coming off the bench in the second half last weekend, Lily Woodham could be brought into the side for Sunday's cup tie.

Chambers is also expected to persist with a front three made up of Charlie Wellings, Emma Harries and Rachel Rowe.

As for the visitors, they are still without the injured trio of Pernille Harder, Katerina Svitkova and Fran Kirby.

Erin Cuthbert is a doubt after missing last weekend's victory with a hamstring injury, and with Chelsea set to face Lyon in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday, the Scotland international may not be risked against Reading.

Guro Reiten was also absent from the win over United due to a sickness bug, but she is expected to be involved on Sunday.

Reading Women possible starting lineup:
Moloney; Mayi Kith, Evans, Mukandi; Woodham, Moore, Vanhaevermaet, Eikeland; Wellings, Harries, Rowe

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Perisset, Bright, Eriksson, Charles; Leupolz, Ingle; James, Fleming, Reiten; Kerr


SM words green background

We say: Reading Women 1-3 Chelsea Women

The Blues claimed a narrow 3-2 victory when the two sides met in December, and although we expect Reading to be competitive once again, we think that Chelsea's quality will shine through in the end.


Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Chelsea Women win with a probability of 87.73%. A draw had a probability of 8.3% and a win for Reading Women had a probability of 3.94%.

The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea Women win was 0-3 with a probability of 11.06%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.66%) and 0-4 (9.5%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (3.81%), while for a Reading Women win it was 2-1 (1.29%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 7.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-3 win for Chelsea Women in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Chelsea Women.


Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:curl


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Written by
Ben Sully

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Chelsea Women's Lauren James celebrates scoring with teammates on February 5, 2023
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