The Blues continue our defence of the League Cup with a last-four trip to the Joie Stadium to face the Women’s Super League leaders. A place in the final is up for grabs.

Our semi-final clash follows on from another knockout tie at the weekend, when we defeated Crystal Palace 5-0 in the Women’s FA Cup. Beever-Jones, Charles, Macario and Walsh all missed that game due to injury, and Bompastor had mixed news on their chances of returning to the pitch in Manchester on Wednesday.

‘We will probably have the same group as we had at the weekend,’ the Blues head coach confirmed in her pre-match press conference at Cobham.

‘We had this morning Keira and Aggie training fully with the team; maybe Aggie will be back in the group for Wednesday. Keira isn’t far from returning with the squad, probably on the weekend, but not for the one on Wednesday.

‘Niamh and Cat are both progressing in their rehab plan, but will not be involved this week for the games.

‘Niamh is in a good place to probably join the squad in the training sessions in the next few days. Cat is less likely to feature for us in the next block, but we will see how they progress individually.’

As Chelsea compete across three competitions this week, with FA Cup and League Cup duties joining the Women’s Super League, Bompastor confirmed managing her squad to keep everyone fresh and firing on all cylinders is a major challenge.

‘I think it’s important, as much as possible, to keep everyone fit and available to play the big games, but also when you are at Chelsea the schedule is busy, we play many games, and unfortunately sometimes we have some injuries.

‘I think that’s also important for me as a manager, to trust the players who are available, but also to make the most of them, having them be the best version of themselves when they’re on the pitch. We have quality enough with the squad that is available right now to perform in the next big games.’

The Blues head coach was also keeping her cards close to her chest in terms of how her team might line up against Manchester City.

‘I think one good point from us is we can be unpredictable and play in different systems – sometimes with a back three or back four, sometimes we can make tweaks a little bit in the midfield,’ she added.

‘So that’s something which is a strength for us and going into every game sometimes we can change the system if we think it’s better for the game plan and the game day, so we will see on Wednesday what we do.’