Arsenal Women trigger Chelsea extra European ache after pink card and unpunished hair pull late on | EUROtoday

Good night and welcome to our stay protection of Chelsea v Arsenal within the Women’s Champions League.

An exciting all-English conflict awaits as Chelsea look to make use of their house benefit to overturn a 3-1 deficit at Stamford Bridge of their second leg towards the reigning European champions.

Arsenal noticed off their Women’s Super League rivals in a dramatic contest final week on the Emirates, the place objectives from Stina Blackstenius, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo helped the house facet to a convincing win.

Lauren James’s deft chip was the one optimistic for Chelsea on an evening which left Chelsea supervisor Sonia Bompastor fuming at the usual of refereeing after her facet had two objectives scratched off.

Arsenal will fancy their possibilities after a powerful 5-2 North London derby win over Tottenham final weekend, though they’ll count on Chelsea to awaken a robust response as they bid to progress to a fourth consecutive European semi-final. “We know we can overturn this result,” have been the assured phrases of Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze at full time.

The stats, although, are towards Chelsea. Arsenal having progressed on all 4 earlier events after they have gained a two-goal first-leg lead in a Uefa competitors two-legged tie.

The Champions League is the one main honour lacking from Chelsea’s trophy cupboard. While the membership have dominated domestically, European success stays the final word aim – one thing they by no means managed to realize underneath former supervisor Emma Hayes.

Despite successful the League Cup final month, they’ve endured a sub-optimal season by their very own lofty requirements. They are 9 factors adrift of WSL leaders Manchester City and with three video games of the league season remaining, their current dominance in English girls’s soccer seems to be set to come back to a shuddering halt.