Gimnasia’s defense has been a problem for opposition teams to deal with, and we anticipate that Los Triperos will play a defensive game on Thursday, encircling Barracas with a large number of men at every turn in a contest that may have few opportunities for either side.
Our Match Preview: Chelsea Women vs West Ham United Women
To say Chelsea’s championship defense got off to a rough start would be an understatement.
A 2-1 loss to newly promoted Liverpool at Prenton Park was a rough start. Chelsea’s 2-0 win against Manchester City on Sunday showed why they have won the last three Women’s Premier League crowns despite a shocking loss on opening day.
Fran Kirby put her team ahead, and a penalty from Maren Mjelde in the 78th minute sealed the victory, despite Man City’s danger in an exciting match. Chelsea’s 13-game undefeated league streak came to an end with their loss to Liverpool,
But they’ll be hoping that their win against Man City is the beginning of another good run of form. The Blues have won eight of their last nine league matches against West Ham, so they should feel confident about taking all three points on Wednesday.
On the other side of things, West Ham manager Paul Konchesky knows his team has their work cut out for them if they want to avoid losing two games in a row.
The first game of Konchesky’s tenure was a 1-0 win against Everton on the opening weekend of the season thanks to a goal by Lisa Evans.
The Hammers may have gotten off to a good start with three points, but Sunday’s home match against Manchester United was a rude awakening. West Ham held off the Red Devils until halftime thanks to a stout defensive effort, but after the break United took the lead on a goal by Lucia Garcia, and they added another by Hannah Blundell five minutes later to seal a 2-0 victory.
The Hammers will attempt to rebound from their first loss of the season when they host the defending WSL champions, who will take heart from the fact that they won three of their last five away league games last year.
Our Team News: Chelsea Women vs West Ham United Women
It is possible that Chelsea will continue to be without the services of Pernille Harder, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury and has missed the first two games of the season.
Jessie Fleming and Maren Mjelde were both new additions to the squad for Sunday’s victory against Manchester City. It is anticipated that both players will continue to start for the team, as Emma Hayes intends to keep the starting lineup the same.
Sam Kerr, who finished the previous season as the WSL’s leading scorer, will be in the starting lineup on Wednesday and will be looking to make her first point of the current campaign.
Regarding West Ham, they will play with a back three that is anticipated to include Kate Longhurst, Lucy Parker, and Hawa Cissoko. This is how they will function.
Even though Konchesky has used the same starting lineup for the first two matches, he could be tempted to insert Abbey-Leigh Stringer into the starting lineup for the third encounter. In the meanwhile.
Evans will keep her spot in the starting lineup in the front line as she seeks to add to the goal that she scored in the victory against Everton.
- Chelsea Women possible starting lineup: Berger, Bright, Buchanan, Eriksson, Fleming, Cuthbert, Mjelde, Reiten, James, Kirby, Kerr.
- West Ham United Women possible starting lineup: Arnold, Longhurst, Parker, Cissoko, Smith, Stringer, Ziu, Brynjarsdottir, Shimizu, Asseyi, Smith.
Our prediction: Chelsea Women 3-1 West Ham United Women
The Blues defeated West Ham in all three of their meetings with the Hammers during the 2017–18 campaign, compiling a 10–3 victory margin over the course of those contests, and we anticipate that they will repeat that feat against the Hammers on Wednesday.
