Wednesday night saw the quarter-finals of the Continental Cup take place in which Chelsea, Manchester City and Aston Villa all booked their places in the semi-finals, with Arsenal and London City Lionesses yet to play due to a waterlogged pitch issue.
| Chelsea | 5 | – | 0 | Sunderland |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 1 (0) | – | 1 (2) | Aston Villa |
| Tottenham Hotspurs | 0 | – | 1 | Manchester City |
Chelsea vs Sunderland: A comfortable win for the Blues
Emma Hayes kicked off her side’s Continental Cup campaign with a big squad rotation to ensure players gain experience in various competitions with all eleven players from last weekend’s WSL win being replaced. Maika Hamano was given her first Chelsea start for her home debut after coming on as a substitute in a win at Bristol City in December 2023.
After a slightly shaky start with a few missed opportunities from Chelsea in which Mia Fishel headed over in the opening minutes and missed shots from Kirby, Beever-Jones and Perisset there was an unusual break in play at 11 minutes, with the assistant referee down with a problem; after treatment, she was able to walk unaided off the pitch with, what appeared to be an injured arm.
Following the restart, Sunderland created a momentary threat when Grace McCatty created the visitors’ best chance when she headed narrowly over the bar, in what would be their only chance in the opening 45. The home side opened up the scoring in the 28th minute after Sjoeke Nüsken’s header from close range hit the centre of the goal, and was assisted by Fran Kirby.
Before half-time approached Aggie Beever-Jones fired a rocket at goal that was tipped over by a good save, but the lead was doubled in the 44th minute after Ève Périsset’s cross met Nüsken whose header- from the centre of the box- met the bottom right corner of the net.
After the restart, it was not even a minute gone when Beever-Jones found space for a right-footed shot into the high centre of the goal from another blistering drive that the keeper could not touch- creating her seventh goal of the season and giving Chelsea more control.
Sunderland created a higher press in the second half forcing Musovic into a handful of saves, but the home side’s defensive line helped keep the clean sheet. After another couple of missed shots from the Blues- a miss from Fishel from a right-footed shot- it fell to Fran Kirby (in the 83rd minute) whose close range right footed shot hit the centre of the goal, giving Fishel her first assist of the night.
To end the night’s scoring, Kirby in the 91st minute headered Jelena Cankovic’s cross -from the centre of the box- into the bottom left corner, to seal the victory for the WSL leaders and send them through to their seventh consecutive semi-final for the cup.
Brighton vs Aston Villa: Down to the wire
Aston Villa have now progressed to the semi-finals after a penalty shootout win over Brighton & Hove Albion; the game was 1-1 after 120 minutes, with goals from Kirsty Hanson and Veatriki Sarri. Carla Ward made two changes from the side that started Saturday’s draw with Bristol City with Ebony Salmon and Simone Magill starting ahead of the suspended Rachel Daly and Noelle Maritz, who is cup-tied; whilst Brighton only made the one change from their WSL defeat with Tatiana Pinto replacing Lee Geum-min.
In the first half, Villa saw a long-range effort held by Sophie Baggaley in what was Villa’s only significant attempt inside the first 30. But it was Brighton who created the lead, inside 35 minutes when Veatriki Sarri sent a swerving left-footed effort from outside the box to the bottom left corner, past Daphne van Domselaar.
Villa thought they had equalised when Ebony Salmon bundled home a loose ball, but she was adjudged to be offside. Following the break, the visitors emerged with urgency whilst Brighton still posed a threat on the counterattack but missed a chance to double their lead when Elisabeth Terland dragged an effort wide. It was drawn level when Kirsty Hanson headed in a Kenza Dali cross from close range in the 69th minute.
Despite efforts from both sides to find a winner, the scores remained level after 120 minutes and Brighton failed to convert any of their spot-kicks, whilst Villa was able to convert two through Adriana Leon’s and Anna Patten’s right-footed shot to the bottom left corner. This lead meant that Villa booked their ticket to the semi-finals for the first time in club history.
Tottenham vs Man City: Stunning strike to get City’s tenth goal against the Lilywhites
In their third meeting of the season Manchester City beat Tottenham to seal their semi-final place and they have now beaten the Lilywhites three times with an aggregate score of 10-0. There were changes to both teams; for Tottenham, there were two changes: Shuang Wang and Kit Graham replaced Bethany England and Olga Ahtinen and for Man City Alanna Kennedy and Jess Park replaced Kerstin Casparij and Laura Coombs.
In the first half, Manchester City were able to gain the advantage and took the lead in the 34th minute as Yui Hasegawa drove a powerful long-range effort- assisted by Jess Park- over the head of Barbora Votikova. This was the midfielder’s first Spurs goal of the season.
The home side’s closest chance came after the break after a Kit Graham header from a corner however despite their composed spells in possession, Spurs failed to seriously threaten to create an equaliser.
City consistently attacked with fluidity with multiple missed opportunities such as Lauren Hemp’s and Chloe Kelly’s shots who tried to find gaps on the opposition’s wings- creating 12 shots with 6 on target. Spurs’ defence sat back and closed down spaces to make it difficult for the visitors to extend their advantage, however, it was the four-time champions who were controlling throughout to get the win.
For Manchester City, it will be their fifth time getting into the final four as they try to regain the title that they last won in 2022.
The Semi-final draw is set to take place on Friday 9th of February, during Sports Day on BBC News and will be played across Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th of March.
Image Credit: Lee Fraser, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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