Chelsea preview: Kirby prepares to face former club

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Our preview of Sunday's WSL game as Albion take on Chelsea at the Broadfield Stadium.

Bruce Talbot

2025-03-02T11:30+00:00

Fran Kirby joined Albion in the summer after nine years with Chelsea. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Albion face WSL leaders Chelsea at the Broadfield Stadium on Sunday, kick-off 3pm.

Tickets are still available, which you can buy here.

Team news

Jorelyn Carabali will miss Sunday's game against Chelsea. 📷 by Kyle Hemsley.

Fran Kirby will be back in the Albion this squad to face her former club for the first time since her departure from the Blues last year. The Lioness missed out on the reverse fixture earlier this season after picking up an injury that ruled her out for over two months, but she managed to return just before the international break to pick up some minutes against West Ham.

Dario Vidosic also confirmed Jorelyn Carabali will be missing for a period of time after picking up an injury whilst on international duty with Colombia.

Dario Vidosic’s thoughts

"We don't really want to just sit back and hope against a team like Chelsea.

"They've only dropped two points all season with a draw. We want to try and play our football and that's also part of our process. We have to take into account their quality, but we still want to be recognisable. We still want to be bright and to play our way.

"It's a fantastic challenge as well, one of the best for the players and for myself as well."

Fran Kirby’s on facing her former club

“It’s going to be a massive moment for me to play against my old club and I am really excited for the game.

“We produced a really good performance against them at Kingsmeadow earlier in the season and we can take lots of positives from that into this game.

" They are a team stacked with talent and some of the best players in the world play for Chelsea. It will be a challenge for us all over the pitch, so we need to win our individual battles. Each of us will have to do a job and a half, because that’s the level you need to put in against Chelsea if you are going to get something from the game."

Read a full interview with Fran on her time with Albion so far and recovery from injury in Sunday’s match programme which is available to read here.

Stats and facts

Albion have lost each of their last five WSL games against Chelsea, conceding multiple goals in each defeat, and three or more goals in each of the last four.

Chelsea are unbeaten away from home in the Women's Super League against Albion in six previous trips (W2 04), conceding in just one of those matches (1-1 draw in September 2019).

Albion are unbeaten in their last seven WSL home games (W4 03) with only Chelsea on a longer streak without defeat on home turf in the top-flight.

Chelsea have won 19 points from their seven Women's Super League away games this season (W6 D1), the joint-most by any team after seven away matches of a WSL campaign and an outright record for the Blues.

Albion are winless in their last six WSL games (D2 L4), only once going on a longer streak under the same manager (D1 L6 under Hope Powell in Feb 2022).

Chelsea are unbeaten in each of their last 17 WSL games (W16 D1) - their third longest run in the topflight with Arsenal in November 2022 the last side to avoid defeat in 18 consecutive matches in the competition.

Albion had 18 shots and nine shots on target in the reverse fixture with Chelsa this season, with only one team having more in a WSL game against the Blues since the 2016 campaign (Spurs - 11 in October 2023).

Chelsea scored from 31 of their 197 shots between September and December in the WSL this season to give them a league best 15.7% conversion rate; in 2025 however, that rate has dropped to 12.3% (9/73), the fifth worst conversion rate in the top-flight.

Nikita Parris has been directly involved in 99 goals in the Women's Super League (67 goals, 32 assists) and could be the fifth player to reach a century in the competition alongside Vivianne Miedema (120), Beth Mead (114), Bethany England (105) and Albion teammate Fran Kirby (101).

Chelsea's Sandy Baltimore has progressed the ball further upfield with her ball carries than any other full back in the WSL this season (949 metres), while she has two goal involvements in three league appearances in 2025 (1 goal, 1 assist).

Match officials