Chelsea FC Women vs. Manchester United Women, FA WSL: Preview, team news, how to watch

Let’s start by noting something that is wholly silly but true: Manchester United are in their first season in the top flight after winning the Championship. Read it again, sit with it, let it wash over you that a top-3 richest club in football has cared so little about their women’s team that a team didn’t even exist until May of last year.

But of course, and in true United fashion, once they had been publicly shamed enough, they used their significant resources to put together a quite good one. This match will be difficult and probably very annoying, but hopefully Chelsea Women fare better against the Red Devils than our men have.

Date / Time: Sunday, November 17, 2019; 14:00 GMT; 9am EST; 7:30pm IST
Venue: Kingsmeadow
Forecast: Cloudy, 37°F/3°C

How to watch: The FA Player is the only thing you need to watch every WSL match for free — yes, FREE — barring any applicable local broadcast rights. Did I mention is free? Sign up on the FA Player website, bookmark the site, save the Blues’ fixture schedule or keep checking here on WAGNH, and support our Chelsea Women.

Chelsea team news: It’s been a while since WSL action, with Chelsea’s last match being a 3-1 win over West Ham (all three Blues goals were scored in the second half) on 27 October. There was an FA WSL Cup match five days later, which the Blues also won, but since then the squad has been filtered across their various international squads — AND SCORING BANGERS.

A pair of quality strikes got Bethany England and Erin Cuthbert on the scoresheets for England and Scotland respectively, but it was the Swiss No.10, Ramona Bachmann who scored a hat-trick that included the two best goals of the international break.

Oh and though she can’t play until the midseason transfer window opens, WE GOT SAM KERR!

Manchester United team news: 18-year-old striker Lauren James (yes, Reece James’s sister), is a prodigy who has a mean streak — 2 starts, 2 sub appearances, but leads the league in yellow cards (3) — is also a supremely talented dribbler. She can wreck a defense on her own. And October’s PFA Player of the Month was United defender Amy Turner, while the Barclays FA WSL Player of the Month was United winger Kirsty Hanson. United’s first non-domestic signing, midfielder Jackie Groenen, joined the Reds after helping Netherlands reach the final of this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

Given their firepower, United have proved stiff competition for some of the WSL’s top squads — losing 1-0 to Arsenal and Manchester City in the league, while beating City 2-0 in the FA WSL Cup.

Previously: Manchester United Women were founded in May of 2018, so this fixture has literally never happened before.

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