Chelsea Women vs Servette Women. Again. Chelsea are a brilliant team and have proven that to Servette after they beat them 7-0 just shy of a week ago. However, Servette aren’t one of Europe’s elite, and should be proud that they made it to the group stages. Does that mean they can’t try? Of course not.
Chelsea have had a great start to the season, but Emma Hayes’ side are sitting in second on the WSL table. Prior to the first Servette match, they have recently had to rely on their star players, with the likes of Fran Kirby, Sam Kerr, and Pernille Harder have saved them on numerous occasions. Against Aston Villa, none of them started, but it was Jessie Fleming who proved to be the difference.
Servette haven’t been as competitive as they would have liked in the group stage so far, and have also dropped points in the Swiss Super League, and are currently sitting in second. A narrow win on penalties against Glasgow City was what allowed them to be here, and even for that they won from behind. A 3-0 loss against Juventus showed that they needed to improve, but weren’t completely incompetent. But 5-0 and 7-0 losses against Wolfsburg against Chelsea? That was embarrassing, and they’ll be looking to improve on that.
Emma Hayes started her strongest team against Manchester City, which may show that the Chelsea manager wants to start a weaker team, and then bring stronger players onto the field if required.
Éric Sévérac will obviously be playing his strongest team, especially as they lost to this team 7-0, and will want vengeance. Their last match was a comfortable win against Basel, and they’ll now set their sights on Europe.
WHEN & WHERE?
Venue: Kingsmeadow.
Date: November 18, 2021.
Time: Kick-off at 20:00 GMT.
TEAM NEWS
Chelsea are the only worriers as Pernille Harder won’t be fit enough to make the starting eleven due to an injury. Aniek Nouwen is unavailable after coming off with a problem against Aston Villa.
MATCH ANALYSIS
Why can Chelsea’s B Team beat Servette?
I’m going to speak about the unbalance of funding in women’s football, which is critical, especially for this matchup. Chelsea are a team in the WSL, which is Europe’s best league. But does that mean the best in England should be able to comfortably beat Switzerland and Denmark’s best without trying?
This may be more of a question about football, as this isn’t solely a women’s football problem. For example, Manchester City’s B Team contains the likes of Raheem Sterling and Rodri. So, I think this is more about personal style, but should the Chelsea and Arsenal’s of the world be able to thrash Køge and Servette?
KEY PLAYERS
SAMANTHA KERR
And she’s back I really think I should pick somebody else, But you can’t deny that Sam Kerr has been on top of her game. The Australian has contributed to 7 goals in her 3 Champions League matches. That’s crazy. But something that’s even wilder, is that if you add that to her WSL tally, she’s contributed to 15 goals in 10 matches. Insane.
INÊS PEREIRA
Inês Pereira was actually quite good in the last match against Chelsea, despite conceding 7 goals. I know her from her time at Sporting, where she played 40 games in a 5-year spell at the club. That came to an end in the summer, and Inês decided to join Servette, where she has become the number 1 goalkeeper and done quite well.
PREDICTED LINEUP
Servette FCCF predicted XI: Pereira, Soulard, Hurni, Spalti, Fleury, Tufo, Nakkach, Maendly, Padilla, Lagonia, Jade.
Chelsea predicted XI: Musovic, Bright, Carter, Eriksson, Cuthbert, Leupolz, Spence, Reiten, Kirby, Fleming, Kerr.
PREDICTED SCORE
Servette 0-4 Chelsea
