West Ham vs Chelsea - WSL: TV channel, live stream, team news & prediction
By Ali Rampling
Chelsea will be looking to bounce back from Saturday's Continental Cup final defeat to Manchester City as they travel to West Ham in the WSL on Thursday evening.
The Blues were beaten 3-1 by City in the season's first domestic cup final, and their attention now turns to narrowing the gap to Arsenal at the WSL summit.
They face a West Ham side who would move level on points with fifth place Manchester City with a victory.
How to watch West Ham vs Chelsea on TV/live stream
When is kick off? Thursday 10 March, 19:45 (GMT)
Where is the match being played? Chigwell Construction Stadium
TV channel/live stream? Sky Sports Premier League/Football (UK), FA Player (international)
Highlights? FA Player
Referee? Carl Brook
West Ham team news
Adriana Leon made her return to first-team action from the bench during the Hammers' recent FA Cup victory over Reading following a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a foot injury. She could therefore be in contention to make her WSL comeback.
Dagny Brynjarsdottir has been in fine form for West Ham this season, coming off the bench to net the winner against Reading last time out, and she will be expected to return to the starting XI here.
Ex-Chelsea pair Kate Longhurst and Gilly Flaherty could also feature against their former side.
Chelsea team news
Chelsea will be without Magdalena Eriksson after the captain tested positive for Covid-19. Fran Kirby also remains sidelined for the same reason, while Jessie Fleming is still a doubt, having missed the Continental Cup final, and will be tested in the build up to Thursday night.
Erin Cuthbert will also be assessed, having not featured since the February international break. Emma Hayes has confirmed the Scotland midfielder was at '80-90%', but remains unsure if she is ready to make her first team comeback.
Melanie Leupolz will not play for Chelsea for the remainder of the season after announcing on Monday that she is pregnant and expecting her first child.
West Ham vs Chelsea predicted lineups
West Ham: Arnold; Longhurst, Flaherty, Fisk, Sissoko, Svitkova; Wyne, Brynjarsdottir, Hasegowa; Walker, Evans
Chelsea: Berger; Carter, Nouwen, Bright, Andersson; Charles, Ingle, Ji, Reiten; Harder, Kerr
West Ham vs Chelsea score prediction
West Ham could be facing Chelsea at the perfect time. The Hammers have had 11 days without a match, while Emma Hayes admitted Chelsea's slightly depleted squad looked tired during defeat to Manchester City just five days ago.
However, Chelsea pushed through when they were short on numbers in January, and their squad still oozes class in spite of their absentee list - the likes of Beth England and Lauren James currently have to be content with a spot on the bench.
It won't be a straight forward evening for the Blues, but they should edge to victory.