BK Häcken vs. Chelsea, Women’s Champions League: Preview, team news, how to watch

Chelsea Women quickly got back to winning ways last weekend after being held to a goalless draw by BK Häcken FF on Thursday. They’ll want to show the 0-0 scoreline was merely a blip in the matrix as the women in Blue take a trip to Gothenburg in Sweden to face the Hornets at their home stadium.

As Häcken have shown, facing them won’t be a walk in the park. Chelsea will need to be at their very best to beat a team with such tenacity in defence, and who can bring a lot of trouble to our defenders in counterattacks.

Date / Time: Wednesday, December 20, 2023, 20.00 GMT; 3:00pm EST; 1:30pm (next day) IST
Venue: Bravida Arena, Gothenburg, Sweden
Referee: Ewa Augustyn
Forecast: Clear sky and light winds

On TV: none (US); TNT Sports 2 (UK); elsewhere
Streaming: DAZN (US); DAZN, discovery+ (UK)

Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images

BK Häcken team news: Sweden’s domestic season is already over, which means Häcken only have to focus on Champions League football. They also didn’t play any matches since facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week, meaning they’ll like be more rested than the Blues as we had the 3-0 win against Bristol City in Bristol in the meantime.

In terms of absences, although midfielder Anna Csiki was listed as unavailable in the previous match, she did end up in our opponent’s bench even though she wasn’t brought to the pitch by manager Mak Lind. Still, forward Stine Larsen didn’t participate in the match, and fellow attacker Anna Anvegard left last week’s game early due to a knock.

Photo by Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Chelsea team news: This will be Chelsea Women’s last match before the winter break, from which they’ll return on January 14th to face West Ham in the FA Cup. Heading home for the holidays off a Champions League victory would be a very nice feeling.

We still have the quartet of Millie Bright, Jelena Čanković, Catarina Macario and Kateřina Svitková out of contention. Melanie Leupolz and Ashley Lawrence were back from injury in last weekend’s match according to manager Emma Hayes, but only the latter flew to Sweden with the squad for the upcoming match.

Previously: BK Häcken were very effective in shutting Chelsea down in their first encounter, with the clubs sharing the spoils of a goalless draw last Thursday.