Our defence of one of the three domestic trophies the Blues lifted last season continues on home soil on Sunday. Our opponents will the same side we defeated 3-0 in the final at Wembley last May to win the 2024/25 edition of the Women’s FA Cup.

Having already recorded an impressive 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Kingsmeadow in this season’s competition, our head coach is looking forward to continuing our FA Cup campaign, but is expecting a tough challenge.

‘First of all we are really excited to play in this competition because we are the holders and we are playing a home game,’ said Bompastor.

‘We know we are facing a really good team. They are in really good form and there have been a lot of wins in the games for them recently. So we are prepared for that and, as usual, the training this week has been good.’

One thing working in our favour is playing at home for the second round in a row. Bompastor was full of praise for the Chelsea fans and underlined the boost the team get from having the Kingsmeadow crowd behind them.

‘The supporters can play a massive role,’ she continued. ‘I know how much the staff and the players, we love to hear them when we are playing. I think they can make a real difference, especially with us playing a home game.

‘We are hoping to see a lot of them being loud and helping us. I think they bring the energy for the players and the extra motivation.

'We will probably have some tough moments in the game because Man United are a great team, but when you have those moments, you need to hear the supporters, because they bring confidence also for the players.’

Chelsea have returned to form in recent weeks. Following rare consecutive losses in the Women’s Super League, we got back to winning ways with a pair of 2-0 victories, over Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, as momentum and confidence begins to build again in the Blues ranks.

‘I think we could see again this week, a lot of intensity in the training sessions, a lot of hard work, and we are confident going to the game at the weekend.

‘We are trying to focus on game-by-game. I think that's really important. In recent weeks, we had some tough games. The results we got were not the ones we were expecting, but it happens in football, even for a team like Chelsea.

‘I think right now we are in a better place. We are looking at the future with confidence.’

That future begins on Sunday, when Chelsea look to overcome Manchester United to book our place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, with kick-off at Kingsmeadow at 1.30pm.