Chelsea vs Man City LIVE: Team news and Women’s Champions League updates

And five changes for Chelsea: Erin Cuthbert is rewarded for her 91st-minute winner off the bench at the weekend with a starting berth, while Keira Walsh also comes into the starting XI after a substitute appearance.

Nathalie Bjorn and Sandy Baltimore return to the back four and Aggie Beever-Jones is replaced up front by Mayra Ramirez.

Chelsea XI: Hampton; Bronze, Bjorn, Bright (c), Baltimore; Cuthbert, Walsh; Rytting-Kaneryd, Kaptein, James; Ramirez

Substitutes: Spencer, Cox, Lawrence, Charles, Nusken, Jean-Francois, Macario, Hamano, Brown, Beever-Jones

Three changes for City from their last meeting with Chelsea in the WSL, as Leila Ouahabi, Lily Murphy and Mary Fowler come into the side, while Aleixandri and Hasegawa are both fit to start.

City XI: Keating, Casparij, Prior, Aleixandri (C), Ouahabi, Hasegawa, Roord, Miedema, Kerolin Nicoli, Murphy, Fowler.

Substitutes: Startup, Layzell, Coombs, Wienroither, Park.

And more… Manchester City’s record scorer Khadija Shaw and forward Aoba Fujino have been ruled out of tonight’s second leg at Stamford Bridge. The pair have been sidelined since picking up injuries in the League Cup defeat to Chelsea.

“It’s not been ideal over the last two weeks to lose Bunny Shaw and Aoba Fujino, but you look at the group, they’re still training incredibly hard,” said interim boss Nick Cushing, who has also been without Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood.

“I still see the belief. Across the three games I thought we had an incredible threat. I know we will tomorrow night.”

We’re expecting team news soon, with both sides expected to make changes.

Nathalie Bjorn, Sandy Baltimore, Keira Walsh, Mayra Ramirez and Erin Cuthbert could all make their way back into the starting XI for Chelsea, while Laia Aleixandri and Yui Hasegawa are doubts for the visitors after they were both forced off at the weekend.

Laura Blindkilde-Brown is expected to miss the rest of the season for City after injuring her ankle in training, and injured keeper Ayaka Yamashita will miss out after featuring in the first leg, with Khiara Keating between the sticks again after the WSL defeat this weekend.

Chelsea bounced back from last week’s quarter-final first leg to come from behind at the Etihad against the same opponents, with Aggie Beever-Jones equalising and Erin Cuthbert scoring a 91st-minute winner. That result put the Blues eight points clear at the top of the WSL with five matches to go.

With the focus now back on Europe, Chelsea will feel confident despite the two-goal deficit. They have progressed from all of their previous five quarter-finals in the competition and are unbeaten in 16 home games under Sonia Bompastor.

One thing that shouldn’t be an issue tonight is the pitch quality, but it’s an issue that’s cropped up frequently in women’s football in the last couple of weeks.

The playing surface at Derby County’s stadium was noticeably poor after a long winter and demanding Championship season – with bare patches visible and creating an uneven bounce for the players. Chelsea defeated City 2-1 to win the first silverware of the campaign.

The reaction from Sonia Bompastor may have said it all, on the day and ahead of the next two weeks. The Frenchwoman celebrated her first trophy at Chelsea with the mutest of celebrations, simply turning to her counterpart Nick Cushing and offering an outstretched hand. Like Chelsea’s performance against Manchester City in the League Cup final, it was business-like and professional. With three further rounds between these teams across the next 12 days, she knew there is more to come.

But the first blow was landed by Chelsea, the serial winners who lifted this trophy after three consecutive defeats in League Cup finals. Bompastor has built on what was left by Emma Hayes and could go further still, unbeaten now in 28 games this season, with one trophy down and a further three possible.

Chelsea may be looking to their rivals across London for inspiration to turn this tie around, after Arsenal overturned a 2-0 deficit from the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid.

A Russo double and a Caldentey header put the Gunners 3-0 up in the second half at the Emirates last night, with a record crowd cheering them on as they advanced to the semis. Sonia Bompastor’s Blues will be hoping for the same rousing support – and the same result – tonight at Stamford Bridge.

These two sides must be sick of the sight of each other, with this their fourth successive meeting.

Chelsea have won two of the past three, winning 2-1 in the League Cup final and in the WSL, but City have the advantage from the first leg of this Champions League tie, which they won 2-0 at the Joie Stadium.

So Chelsea lead this series of duels head-to-head by 2-1 – but have to pull back at least two goals tonight.

A recap of last week’s first leg at the Joie Stadium: Substitute Vivianne Miedema scored a brace as Manchester City inflicted Chelsea’s first defeat of the season by beating them 2-0 in their Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Joie Stadium.

Miedema, having come off the bench for the start of the second half, put City in front on the hour mark, rifling in the rebound when Hannah Hampton tipped Laia Aleixandri’s header against the crossbar.

And after Chelsea substitute Johanna Rytting Kaneryd had struck the bar at the other end in the 80th minute, Miedema added her second with two minutes of normal time remaining to give City a two-goal advantage heading into Thursday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.