Women’s FA Cup semi-finals: Man City face West Ham as Arsenal and Chelsea meet again | Football News

There are two huge fixtures in the Women’s FA Cup semi-finals this weekend as Man City face West Ham while Arsenal and Chelsea meet once again.

West Ham vs Man City – Saturday, kick-off 12.15pm

Team news

West Ham boss Olli Harder will assess players returning from international duty but one confirmed absentee is Maisy Barker, who is out with a long-term injury.

Meanwhile, Alex Greenwood, Alanna Kennedy and Chloe Kelly are all making good progress from their injuries and could feature for Man City, but the game could come too soon for Vicky Losada.

Flaherty: ‘Anything is possible’ for West Ham

West Ham captain Gilly Flaherty believes “anything is possible” with the backing of the club’s fans as her side prepare to face Manchester City in the semi-finals of the Women’s FA Cup.

The Hammers are aiming to reach the final of an FA Cup for the second time in their professional history, and it was City who beat them 3-0 in the final at Wembley in 2019.

Flaherty told the club website: “The fans are going to be crucial for us out there on Saturday.

“When you hear them in the stands singing for us, it really motivates you as an individual player, but it also does so much for you as a team.

“There’s no denying that it’s going to be a tough occasion, and we’re really going to have to play well to get a result, but with the backing of our supporters on the day, I think anything is possible out there.”

Taylor: City can draw on past experiences

West Ham face a challenge in a Manchester City side who are three-time FA Cup winners and last won the trophy in 2020 when they beat Everton 3-1.

However, City boss Gareth Taylor is hoping that his side can be inspired by last month’s Continental Cup triumph, where they beat Chelsea 3-1 in the final.

“Confidence and belief doesn’t last for long but you have to constantly look at revisiting those moments and try to feel how we felt,” he told the club website.

“Like in most semi-finals and finals you’ll have moments where you’ll suffer but we came through it the other side with real character and quality.

“Our job as staff is to reinforce that with the players, revisit what we’ve achieved and can do without being too overconfident to give us the best chance.”

Last meeting…

Both sides have recently played each other, in the WSL earlier this month, with City winning 2-0 through goals from Georgia Stanway and Khadija Shaw.

Arsenal vs Chelsea – Sunday, kick-off 12.30pm

Team news

While Chelsea are still assessing their squad after the international break, but Pernille Harder will be available for selection. However, Fran Kirby remains sidelined.

Emma Hayes said: “Not everybody is in full training today because they’ve been on different travels. Pernille will be back, that I know, but with regards to team selection, I don’t do that until matchday minus one because of the nature of international breaks meaning that some of them are still recovering from their games.

“Fran has been taking some time in the background, been suffering with a lot of fatigue. I don’t have a definitive reason why that is, we don’t know but we’re trying to get to the bottom of it and taking the time we can to try and find the right solutions for Fran. This is something that’s been ongoing and unfortunately until we get to the bottom of it Fran won’t be available for selection.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal have reported no new injury concerns after their players returned from international duty this week.

Eidevall: Sold-out Meadow Park is normal

Sunday’s semi-final showdown at Arsenal’s home ground of Meadow Park is sold out – a fact Gunners manager Jonas Eidevall says is “normal”.

He said: “I think it’s good but I think it deserves a much higher attendance.

“I could see this game being in front of 30,000, 40,000 or 50,000 spectators. I am not going to jump around and say this is the best thing for us ever.

“I think it’s normal, these are two of the best teams in the world playing in a really important game. If this game wasn’t sold out given the capacity we have at Meadow Park, I would have been really, really worried.

“That would mean we are not moving in the right direction so this is the least that we could expect, it’s nice but we need to grow more.”

Hayes: International break means unpredictable game

This weekend’s Women’s FA Cup semi-finals come off the back of an international break, and Chelsea boss Hayes says it will make for an unpredictable encounter.

She said: “This is what you go to work for, these moments, these privileged positions and there’s nothing better than competing for a place to play in an FA Cup final.

“Playing against Arsenal we’ve had a lot of battles over the years, I certainly enjoy those games and always look forward to taking on another top team.

“I always think the game after international break makes things a lot more unpredictable. Normally you get a week build or you’re in the momentum with your team.

“When you’ve only got one training session when you get back together and you have to try and re-build your momentum… you’ve seen so often after international break, team performances can take a little bit more time to gel.

Hayes also had high praise for Arsenal, with the two battling at the top of the WSL for much of the season. Chelsea were also 3-0 winners in the 2020/21 Women’s FA Cup final in December and are determined to keep hold of their title.

“The players have really developed into being a really top, professional team that compete on all fronts every year and this is the place we want to be in, we want to be competing to make the FA Cup final again,” Hayes added. “We’re holders and we want to hold on to that.

“There’ve been good battles between us and Arsenal over the years. Arsenal have had a tremendous season, they really have. We’ve been going neck and neck in every competition with them the whole way, they’re at home, sold out… we’re going to have to suffer at points in the game and I’m sure with the threats we’ve got we will cause problems.

“It’s important for the team to remember previous results are not indicative of future performance.”

Last meeting…

It was an enthralling 0-0 draw between the two sides in the WSL not too long ago…