After losing to Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals, Chelsea Women will turn their attention to the Women's Super League title fight when they welcome mid-table Liverpool Women to Kingsmeadow on Wednesday.

The Reds, meanwhile, will be looking for a positive response after they were beaten 4-0 by Leicester City at the weekend.

Match preview

Chelsea became the first team to stop Barcelona from winning a competitive home game this season when the two sides played out a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie.

Although the Blues would have been proud of their courageous performance at Camp Nou, the 1-0 defeat in the first leg proved costly, ensuring the wait for their first European trophy will go on.

They will now return to domestic action where they have the chance to win the WSL title and the FA Cup before the curtain comes down on the 2022-23 season.

Despite sitting in third position in the WSL table, the title race is still in Chelsea's hands with seven points separating them from league leaders Man United, who have played three games more.

Since losing to Brighton & Hove Albion in February, the Blues have gone 22 home league games without suffering a defeat (W21, D1), ensuring that they head into Wednesday's encounter in a confident mood.

After enjoying a four-game unbeaten run, Liverpool were stopped in their tracks when they were thrashed 4-0 in Saturday's away meeting with Leicester.

The Reds remained in ninth position despite losing to the Foxes, but Liverpool boss Matt Beard will be frustrated by his side's persistent struggles on the road.

Having drawn four and lost five of their nine WSL matches on their travels, Liverpool are one of two teams that are yet to win an away league game this season.

Hopes of claiming all three points on Wednesday may be slim, as Liverpool have not won a competitive away match against Chelsea since May 2013.

The visitors can at least draw inspiration from the fact that they are one of two teams that have beaten Chelsea in the top flight this term after claiming a narrow 2-1 victory on the opening day of the season.

Team News

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes is likely to be without the services of Kadiesha Buchanan, Millie Bright, Fran Kirby and Katerina Svitkova.

Pernille Harder will provide Hayes with a useful option off the bench after returning from a long injury layoff to feature as a substitute in the two legs against Barcelona.

Lauren James dropped out of the starting lineup for the two semi-final matches, but she is expected to return to the side on Wednesday.

As for Liverpool, Beard recently revealed that Melissa Lawley is set to have surgery on a hip issue, which is likely to keep her sidelined for six months.

The Reds are also unable to call upon long-term absentees Niamh Fahey and Leanne Kiernan, while Yana Daniels is unlikely to feature due to a knee injury.

After coming off the bench at half time against Leicester, Gemma Bonner is expected to come into the backline for Wednesday's contest.

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Perisset, Mjelde, Eriksson, Carter; Leupolz, Cuthbert; James, Fleming, Reiten; Kerr

Liverpool Women possible starting lineup:
Laws; Robe, Bonner, Matthews; Koivisto, Holland, Nagano, Hinds; Kearns; Dowie, Stengel

We say: Chelsea Women 3-0 Liverpool Women

Although Liverpool were victorious in the reverse league fixture, Chelsea managed to claim a 3-2 home win over the Reds in January's FA Cup tie.

With the Reds still winless on the road in the top flight this season, we think that their title-chasing hosts will make full use of home advantage to record a comfortable victory.

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