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Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Women’s League Cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea, including predictions, teams news and possible lineups.
Arsenal Women and Chelsea Women will battle it out for the Women’s League Cup when they face off in Sunday’s final at Selhurst Park.
The Gunners have won the competition a record five times while Chelsea have lifted the League Cup on two occasions.
Match preview
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Due to the format of the competition, where teams competing in Europe join after the group stage, it has been a short road to the final for both Arsenal and Chelsea, although the Gunners had to knock out the current holders, Man City, to progress to Sunday’s showpiece.
After cruising to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Aston Villa in the quarter-final, Jonas Eidevall‘s side faced a much tougher test against the Citizens in the last four.
Neither Arsenal nor Man City were unable to break the deadlock in 90 minutes, but a Stina Blackstenius effort in extra time was enough to secure a place in the final.
The Gunners are aiming to win their first League Cup trophy since the 2017-18 season, but four defeats in their last five domestic cup finals will cause Eidevall an element of concern.
Arsenal will at least take confidence from the fact that they have won all five of their League Cup final appearances, and they will be looking for revenge after being eliminated by Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup last weekend.
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Chelsea secured a 3-1 quarter-final victory over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur to set up a last-four tie with West Ham United.
The Blues made light work of the Hammers, easing to a commanding 7-0 win to book their place in a fourth consecutive League Cup final.
While Emma Hayes‘s side lifted the trophy in 2020 and 2021, they fell short last season, losing 3-1 to Man City in the final despite initially taking the lead through Sam Kerr.
Since suffering a surprise 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on the opening weekend of the Women’s Super League season, Chelsea have embarked on a 21-game unbeaten run across all competitions, picking up 19 victories in that period.
After beating Arsenal 2-0 in the FA Cup last weekend thanks to goals from Sophie Ingle and Kerr, Chelsea have now avoided defeat in their last five competitive meetings with the Gunners.
Arsenal Women League Cup form:
Arsenal Women form (all competitions):
Chelsea Women League Cup form:
Chelsea Women form (all competitions):
Team News
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Arsenal are still unable to call upon Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, who are both sidelined with anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
Sabrina D’Angelo has featured in both League Cup games this term, but the goalkeeper is a doubt for the final after missing the FA Cup defeat to Chelsea.
Lina Hurtig was also absent last weekend, however, she is expected to return to the matchday squad, presenting Eidevall with a useful option off the bench.
Hayes, meanwhile, has confirmed that Chelsea have no fresh injury concerns, although Pernille Harder and Katerina Svitkova remain unavailable due to hamstring and knee injuries respectively.
The Chelsea boss could make a couple of changes to her side, with Kadeisha Buchanan and Jessie Fleming in contention for starting berths.
Kerr has registered 21 goals across all competitions this season, and after scoring in Chelsea’s previous two meetings with Arsenal this term, she will be looking to continue her fine form when she leads the line on Sunday.
Arsenal Women possible starting lineup:
Zinsberger; Wienroither, Williamson, Rafaelle, Catley; Walti, Little, Maanum; McCabe, Foord, Blackstenius
Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Charles, Bright, Buchanan, Eriksson; Ingle, Cuthbert; James, Fleming, Retien; Kerr
We say: Arsenal Women 1-2 Chelsea Women
Chelsea have won their last five matches in all competitions, and we think they will continue their impressive run of form by edging against an Arsenal side who have lost their last two matches, which would secure the Blues their third League Cup trophy.
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