Emma Hayes’s Chelsea Women battle it out against Manchester City in a top-of-the-table clash on Sunday as first host second. The Blues currently trail the Mancunians by a point, albeit with a game in hand.

When and where

Chelsea travel north to play league leaders Manchester City on Sunday. The match kicks off at 2pm at City’s Academy Stadium.

How to follow and watch live

Supporters who are unable to make the trip to Manchester to cheer on the Blues can keep up to date with the game 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. All you need to do is search ‘ChelseaFCW' on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date.

The match will also be shown live on BT Sport 2 and you can tune in from 1:45pm.

The form

Sunday’s match could prove to be crucial in Chelsea’s chase for the Women’s Super League trophy. The Blues go into the match with an unbeaten record in all competitions and will look to extend our run to 24 games this term. The Blues were last in action on Monday evening when we beat Liverpool 1-0 at Kingsmeadow to progress to the quarter-final of the Women’s FA Cup.

The match was moved from Sunday to Monday due to the impact of Storm Dennis, and it was Guro Reiten’s first-half strike that was the difference between the two sides. The Norwegian was found at the back post by a neat flick-on from Sophie Ingle and Reiten finished emphatically by firing a half- volley home with 26 minutes on the clock.

Manchester City are one point ahead of us in the league standings but we have one game in hand. City have lost two games this season, away to the Blues and Arsenal.

Their last outing took place on Sunday when they put 10 goals past Ipswich Town without reply in the Women's FA Cup. Pauline Bremer, Jess Park and Georgia Stanway all scored hat-tricks and Laura Coombs also got her name on the scoresheet against the tier four side. This result sees the holders through to the quarter-finals of the competition for the seventh consecutive season.

City’s last WSL match was at home to Bristol City and our opponents triumphed 1-0 courtesy of Gemma Bonner’s early strike.

Chelsea v City: recent head-to-head record

The two teams have met 18 times previously, with the latest result finishing 2-1 to the Blues at Kingsmeadow. Chelsea showed brilliant character and resilience to fight back from being a goal down when Bethany England and Maren Mjelde netted two late goals.

Caroline Weir of City put her team ahead with a volley on 60 minutes but we did not let the goal faze us and finally got the breakthrough we deserved with 11 minutes left to play. 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’ 2018/19 league opener was against City at Kingsmeadow, where it finished goalless resulting in a point apiece. They then put a halt to our Continental Cup quest after Nikita Parris got a double in the semi-final, and were eventual winners of the competition. Exactly one week later, Chelsea took the trip to the Academy Stadium but this time in the league and once again went toe-to-toe with City, coming away with just a point from a 2-2 draw.

Further cup upset came against City when we exited the 2018/19 Women’s FA Cup at the semi-final stage as an unfortunate own goal from Magdalena Eriksson in stoppage time condemned us to defeat, despite hitting the woodwork twice.

In the 2017/18 season, we reached the final of the FA Cup after overcoming City due to a Fran Kirby brace. Firstly, the forward took advantage of Steph Houghton’s misjudge of a long ball and then in the second half she pounced on a similar defensive error, burst clear and calmly slotted home.

It is evident from previous results that the Blues' record against City leaves room for improvement and out of the 18 encounters, it has been City who have got the better of us with eight victories, whereas we have won five and drawn five. The Blues have never won away from home against Manchester City in the WSL (D3, L3), therefore Hayes’ side will aim to change this at the weekend.

Heads up campaign

Chelsea Women are showing their support for the Heads Up campaign on Sunday, a movement that aims to harness the influence and popularity of football to normalise the conversation around mental health, working closely with charity partners Mind, CALM and Sporting Chance. The Blues will be wearing warm-up t-shirts and there will be matchday branding present at the Women’s Super League match.

Read more on how Chelsea are supporting the campaign here.

Conti Cup campaign

Tickets for the Blues’ Continental Tyres League Cup final against Arsenal are now on general sale. The final takes place on Saturday 29 February at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground and kick-off is at 5.30pm.

Tickets are priced at £10 for adults and £1 for concessions. Group pricing is available for 15 supporters or more.

Click here to buy your tickets

Next up at Kingsmeadow...

Due to the Conti Cup final, our Women’s FA Cup quarter-final tie away to Everton and the international break, the Blues will not play at our KT1 home until Sunday 22 March. The match that takes place on Mother’s Day is against Everton in the league and kicks off at 2pm.

Click here to buy your tickets!