WHEN AND WHERE

Chelsea host Reading at Kingsmeadow for our final home game of the year and last Group D match on Wednesday 11 December. Kick-off is at 7pm.

TICKETS

Tickets are still available to watch the Blues. They cost just £3 for adults and £1 for juniors (under-16) and seniors (aged over 65). You will no longer be able to purchase tickets online from 10pm on Tuesday night, but the matchday ticketing booth will be open from 5.30pm on Wednesday.

Click here to get your tickets

THE FORM

Chelsea’s strong start to the campaign has now stretched to 10 consecutive wins in all competitions, with the latest victory being against Manchester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday. The Blues showed fantastic character and resilience to fight back from being a goal down when Bethany England and Maren Mjelde netted two late goals.

City’s Caroline Weir had smashed in a volley against the run of play with half-an-hour left. However, we did not let that goal faze us, continuing to apply pressure to the visitors’ backline and finally getting a breakthrough on the 79th minute. Our leading scorer, England, headed home her 10th goal of the season before we went in front two minutes later through Mjelde. England was the creator, drilling a low shot into a packed six-yard box, where Chelsea’s right-back was perfectly placed to turn the ball in from close range.

The Blues have qualified for the quarter-finals with one game left to play after being the only team in Group D to have won all four matches. Chelsea got underway with a strong 5-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur in November. Following that was a trip to East Sussex to face Championship side Lewes, which finished in a 2-1 victory in testing conditions. We then met another tier-2 team in Crystal Palace, and came away with all three points after a 3-0 triumph. In our last cup match, we put two past West Ham with no reply.

Reading are sat in seventh place in the WSL having won three, drawn two and lost three so far this season. The Royals were last in action on Sunday against Arsenal where they suffered a 3-0 defeat at home. As for their Continental Tyres Cup campaign, Reading have won three out of four matches. In September Reading recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory over Spurs, then were given a tough game by Lewes after edging a 3-2 win, which then followed by a narrow 1-0 loss to West Ham. Their last cup game was at the end of November where they put six goals past Crystal Palace.

The Royals still have hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals, but they would have to beat the Blues or rely on West Ham losing against Crystal Palace tomorrow evening. However, should the scores be level at full-time, the encounter would go to straight to penalties and the winner would receive two points, while the loser takes home one point which could be another possibility for our opponents to progress to the next round with us.

CHELSEA V READING HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

We have won seven and drawn two out of nine meetings against Reading and all encounters have not been short of action. The first match was in the Continental Tyres Cup which ended in a 3-2 victory. Gilly Flaherty opened the scoring for us, but Reading went ahead when Rebecca Jane and Lauren Bruton scored either side of the break for the hosts. However, Ji So-Yun came off the bench and set up Millie Bright before netting the winner herself.

Our first WSL meeting came in September 2016 and we came away with three points courtesy of Katie Chapman’s powerful header, Gemma Davison’s superb solo goal and Ana Borges netting in added time. In the return fixture at Wheatsheaf Park in the penultimate game of the season, we were 3-2 winners. Borges again found the back off the net and Eniola Aluko was on target twice.

The next match followed in the Spring series at Adams Park and we were 4-0 victors after a dominating performance. Karen Carney scored first with a header, then Drew Spence, Ji and Hannah Blundell netted in the second half.

In the 2017/18 season, both matches finished 2-2. We trailed in the away fixture in November to Remi Allen’s first-half goal, but we went ahead from an excellent free-kick from Carney and Aluko finding the net. It looked as though the three points were ours until a last-gasp own-goal from Magda Eriksson earned Reading a point.

When we hosted Reading at Kingsmeadow in the March, Reading took the lead again in the first half, this time from a Brooke Chaplen penalty and they doubled their advantage shortly after the break through Fara Williams. The Blues found a route back into the game to earn a point through Jonna Andersson and Fran Kirby scoring against her previous side.

Last season we played the Royals three times. The first game in December, which was in the WSL, resulted in us coming away with a 1-0 victory. Ramona Bachmann stood up the defenders and found Ji with a low ball. The South Korean controlled the ball, picked her spot and calmly rolled it into the corner to give us the lead.

In January we knocked Reading out of the Continental Tyres Cup at the quarter-final stage after a thumping 4-0 win. Kirby put us ahead early on and Anita Asante scored her first-ever Chelsea goal close to half-time. Kirby fired home her second of the game and Ali Riley added to the scoresheet in the 90th minute.

The two teams last met on the final day of the 2018/19 season at Adams Park and Chelsea gave former Blue, Hedvig Lindahl, a perfect ending to her four-and-a-half year spell with a 3-2 win.

We went ahead early thanks to a sweet strike by Ji, which was set up by Jonna Andersson and was the only goal of the first half. However, the hosts found a route back into the game and equalised five minutes into the second period after Natasha Harding beat Lindahl. However, it took just two minutes for Carney to restore our lead with a cross that looped over the head of Grace Moloney and into the Royals’ goal. Fara Williams managed to get Reading back on level terms moments later from her headed effort, and as the game finished in high drama, England saved the day when she slotted a composed effort past Grace Moloney to put us back in front.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Supporters who cannot make it to Kingsmeadow can keep up to date with the match via our social media channels. There will be live commentary on our Twitter page, regular updates on Facebook and Instagram, plus footage of the matchday on our Instagram story. Simply search ‘ChelseaFCW' on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date!

ELSEWHERE IN GROUP D

West Ham welcome Crystal Palace, while Tottenham take on Lewes and both kick-off at 7.30pm.

CHELSEA’S NEXT MATCH AT KINGSMEADOW

The Blues’ first game back of 2020 is against Reading in the Barclays Women’s Super League. Celebrate the New Year with us and get your tickets now.

Click here to book your tickets