PREVIEW: Chelsea v VfL Wolfsburg | OneFootball

Chelsea return to UEFA Women’s Champions League action on Wednesday when German club VfL Wolfsburg are the visitors to Kingsmeadow.

The Blues reached the final for the first time last season before going down 4-0 to FC Barcelona in Gothenburg. Emma Hayes’ side will be determined to go one step further and lift the trophy this year.

Chelsea go into the match on the back of a four-game winning streak in which they have scored 17 goals. Manager Hayes will again be without Norwegian international defender Maren Mjelde and forward Lauren James as the club resume their battle with regular European opponents VfL Wolfsburg, a side who they finally defeated last season.

Last season’s German FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga runners-up VfL Wolfsburg needed penalties to reach the group stage of this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League after recording a 5-5 draw with Bordeaux over two legs in Round 2. In the league, VfL Wolfsburg are already two points adrift of last season’s champions Bayern Munich after being held by struggling Freiburg at the weekend, a side who had lost their first three games.

The She-Wolves will be without forward Ewa Pajor for their trip to England with the player set for a second round of knee surgery which will keep her sidelined for several months. Head coach Tommy Stroot will also be without defender Felicitas Rauch but Joëlle Smits, Dominique Janssen and Rebecka Blomqvist all came through Saturday’s game against Freiburg unscathed.

The UEFA Women’s Champions League group fixture between Chelsea and VfL Wolfsburg kicks-off at 8pm on Wednesday evening.