Chelsea vs Lyon: Lauren James faces battle against ‘world’s best left-back’ | OneFootball

The battle between Chelsea's Lauren James and Lyon's Selma Bacha in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals promises to be fascinating, journalist Rob Pratley told GIVEMESPORT.

Emma Hayes' side are unbeaten in Europe so far this campaign and are currently on course for a fourth successive Women's Super League title.

Meanwhile, Lyon are the reigning Champions League winners and sit top of the domestic table in France.

While Chelsea face an almighty task in trying to topple the nine-time European champions, they will take confidence from Lyon's heavy defeat to Arsenal in this year's group stages.

And though the Blues are still searching for their first piece of European silverware, this year they have a not-so-secret weapon in James.

What has Pratley said about James vs Bacha?

The talented winger has been in phenomenal form for both Chelsea and England this year, but coming up against Bacha may prove to be her biggest test of the season.

The French youngster is a product of the Lyon academy and Pratley believes the defender is "pound for pound, the best player in the world in her position by a long way."

Equally, however, Bacha has often been susceptible against players of James' mould and the forward may fancy her chances against the 22-year-old.

"She [Bacha] has really struggled at times when she's come up against tricky, powerful wingers," said Pratley. "We saw it in matches last year. We saw it earlier this season when Lyon played PSG in D1 Féminine and PSG surprisingly deployed Ashley Lawrence in the front three. It really did a number on them.

"On the flip side, you've got Lauren James. Everyone was waiting last year for Lauren James really to explode at Chelsea, and to really show what she was all about. She had a year of being injured and frustrated, and then she got that first goal against Leicester.

"Since then, she's come to preseason, and she’s just been absolutely flying. I don't think she fears anyone. It will be fascinating to see in the longer term what position Lauren James actually plays, because her passing is brilliant. Her dribbling is brilliant. She can finish, she's strong in the air. She's quick. Her defensive capabilities actually really improved this year, and she does track back more. "

Pratley added that he feels Hayes may choose to deploy James in more of a free-roaming role against Lyon – giving her the licence to find space wherever she can.

"You're looking at a player that could play anywhere on the pitch. It wouldn't surprise me if Chelsea gave Lauren James a free role against Lyon. They just tell her to sit in between the lines and try and cause havoc, and try and run at the defence at every opportunity, because that's sort of what she had in pre-season against them.

"From Bacha’s point of view, she does have the speed and strength to max Lauren James. It’s now up to seeing whether James can take advantage of the fact that Bacha will bomb forward, and she's going to need to be on her wits defensively to stop Bacha bombing forward.

"But when she does go forward, it's going to mean that Lauren James needs to be right in that space in-behind, because if she's right in that space, she will get away and she will punish them."

Big stadiums to be used

For a tie of this magnitude, it's fitting that both matches will be played at big stadiums.

Chelsea will travel to the Parc Olympique Lyonnais for the first-leg on Wednesday, 22nd March.

Then, the two teams will meet at Stamford Bridge, with a huge crowd expected.

It promises to be an absolute cracker.