Women’s League Cup final: Who needs the silverware more as Manchester United take on Chelsea?
· Yahoo Sports
Ashton Gate in Bristol hosts the 2026 Women’s League Cup final on Sunday, with Manchester United taking on holders Chelsea.
Chelsea landed this trophy last season as part of a historic domestic treble — 12 months later, it’s a chance for them to add some early silverware in a season where they have fallen off the pace in the title race. United, in contrast, have never won the League Cup, and have frequently suffered at the hands of the west London side in recent seasons.
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The Athletic’s Cerys Jones, Ali Rampling and Carl Anka discuss the big game.
Who will win the trophy?
Cerys Jones: A one-sided head-to-head record, with Manchester United only ever having won one of their 18 meetings with Chelsea, belies how fine the margins have become in this fixture. Either side would have thought themselves deserved winners of their 1-1 league draw in October, and Chelsea edged a 2-1 victory in the FA Cup fifth round in February after extra time. Only one point separates the two in the league table.
However, in their last outing against United, Chelsea looked more like their old, relentless, scrappy selves than they have all season. Crashing out of the WSL title race with consecutive losses to Manchester City and Arsenal appears to have focused their minds, and I think they will edge it.
Ali Rampling: Chelsea have not been at their best this season, particularly in the WSL, but have still demonstrated their knack to get the job done on one off, big occasions, as shown by the way they secured their spot in Sunday’s final with a 1-0 victory over league leaders Manchester City, and their unbeaten Champions League league phase campaign.
With little to separate the sides across their two meetings this season, and just a point between them in the league, it promises to be another tight encounter decided by the finest of margins. An 82nd-minute deflected Erin Cuthbert strike from the edge of the area settling proceedings is my prediction.
Carl Anka: Since their 2018 (re)formation, United have faced Chelsea 16 times in all competitions. They’ve won only once and suffered 13 defeats. Two of those defeats occurred in the 2025 and 2023 FA Cup finals. There’s bogey teams and there’s what Chelsea have been able to do to Marc Skinner’s many tactical plans. The gap between the two sides this season appears closer than ever; if United are to ever get this gremlin off their back, now is the time to do it. I predict a game low in goals, high in yellow cards, and United to scrape it.
What will be the key factors on the pitch?
Jones: Manchester United captain Maya Le Tissier said on Friday morning that her team’s performance “in both boxes” had made the difference in the FA Cup tie, with both Chelsea’s goals coming from set pieces and United missing multiple chances at the other end.
Wastefulness in front of goal has also been the bane of Chelsea’s season. In Sam Kerr, Catarina Macario, and Mayra Ramirez’s absence, Lauren James is most likely to be charged with leading the line for Chelsea, with Elisabeth Terland her opposite number. Which of those two can be more clinical will be a decisive factor — and by the same token, goalkeepers Hannah Hampton and Phallon Tullis-Joyce will both need to be on top form.
Rampling: Manchester United attacking midfielder Jess Park has been a joy to watch this season with her quick feet and ball-carrying ability. She’s capable of winning Sunday’s final with one moment of magic.
Chelsea forward Lauren James can lay claim to similar. After injury disrupted her end to last season and the beginning of this one, the England international appears close to returning to her best, having provided a goal and an assist in her first full 90 minutes of the season against Liverpool in February, before impressing against Iceland during March’s international break.
How United can limit the impact of Chelsea right-back Ellie Carpenter will also be key. The Australia international can cause chaos with her boundless energy and constant running.
Anka: Two United matches from the league phase of their Champions League performance sum up the good and bad of their season. In October, against Atletico Madrid, they were reduced to 10 players late in the first half, adjusted well, and found a way to grind out a 1-0 win. Against Wolfsburg in November, they were overawed by their opponents and got baited into making silly passes in their own third again and again on their way to a 5-2 defeat.
United have the means to play out from the back, but can be too reactive to the first opposition player leading the press, rather than recognising where a larger trap is being set. Communication across the back line will be integral to everything. Chelsea are dangerous enough on their own, without United players gifting away possession.
Which player absence will be felt the most?
Jones: Chelsea will certainly miss Sam Kerr’s knack for a goal against United, but they have also had to get used to playing without her this season as she has made her way back from injury. United have not had a chance to get used to playing without Hinata Miyazawa, who, like Kerr, is still in Australia at the Asian Cup. The midfielder is the quiet hub of their build-up play as well as a tireless defensive contributor, and has started every league and Champions League game this season. Her absence, though not a surprise, is a real blow.
Rampling: Both clubs have a cluster of absentees in similar areas. Three of Chelsea’s central strikers are missing, with Sam Kerr at the Asian Cup, Catarina Macario sidelined, and Mayra Ramirez out long-term. United, meanwhile, have been hit centrally, with Miyazawa on international duty and Ella Toone, who typically plays in a more advanced role, out injured.
This is where Chelsea’s depth comes into play, and they can still call on England internationals Aggie Beever-Jones or Lauren James to lead the line. I agree with Cerys on Miyazawa — she contributes so much going forward and defensively and will be tough to replace.
Anka: Miyazawa’s absence due to the Asian Cup leaves a hole in United’s midfield with no straightforward solution. The Japan international plays simple football in the most intelligent way. She’s United’s pressure valve on both sides of the ball, and Skinner is unlikely to leave Julia Zigiotti Olme as the lone defensive midfielder in a game of such magnitude.
Simi Awujo would offer some of Miyazawa’s progressive passing and hope to supercharge attacks, but that might leave United vulnerable to quick counter-attacks in the middle. Dominique Janssen is an option, moving from centre-back to central midfield to serve as an additional spoiler, but what is gained in defensive security would lead to United playing more directly. To beat Chelsea, United have to use the ball properly. Miyazawa understands that better than nearly anyone else in the squad. She will be missed.
What would it mean for United to become just the fourth club to win the League Cup?
Anka: Winning silverware is always good, but victory on Sunday would mean that much more because it would involve beating Chelsea. United’s one victory over them occurred in a strange 2023-24 FA Cup semi-final when they scored in the first minute, before battling to an eventual 2-1 triumph. United went on to win in the final, but many believed that a difficult transitional period was in store. That hasn’t occurred, thanks to an incredible amount of effort from a squad that has largely been left to themselves by higher-ups at INEOS.
Another trophy earned, against a difficult rival, should give Skinner and his coaching staff further credit in the bank.
Rampling: It would represent a significant result in the history of United’s women’s team. As Carl says, United won their maiden major trophy with victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the 2024 FA Cup final, have outwitted the WSL’s established ‘big three’ multiple times in recent seasons, and there have been some real highs in their debut Champions League campaign. But beating serial winners Chelsea in a cup final remains uncharted territory and would be a real statement.
What would a League Cup mean for holders Chelsea?
Jones: By Chelsea’s extremely high standards, this trophy is not enough to make the season a success. Unless they lift the Champions League, this campaign will be remembered as the one where they relinquished the WSL title.
The main value of winning the League Cup, other than ruling out the chance of a season entirely without silverware, would be to start this crunch stage of the season with positive momentum. Chelsea have quarter-finals against London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League and FA Cup respectively, and need to enter those with the confidence that they remain the favourites against fellow WSL heavyweights in knockout games.
Rampling: Chelsea have underwhelmed this term and seem to now be going through their post-Emma Hayes transition. A hallmark of Hayes’ Chelsea was to keep winning while the squad evolved and when not at their best. Victory in Sunday’s final would demonstrate that Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea are capable of doing the same.
The 2018-19 campaign was the last time Chelsea ended a season without lifting a major trophy — they’ve won two domestic trebles and done the double three times since. But really, only winning the Champions League this season can compensate for their WSL title defence falling flat.
Are you in favour of the change in format coming next year?
Jones: The same three or four teams competing for every major domestic honour is not good for women’s football, and those three or four teams are also usually the ones whose players have the heaviest workloads — so from that point of view, I have no issue with taking the League Cup off their plates. Giving WSL2 clubs more opportunities to test themselves against the top flight, through a Swiss-style league stage, should also help narrow the gap between the two divisions.
A flaw is that finishing third in the WSL this season does not guarantee participation in the Champions League league phase. As England has risen to the top of the women’s UEFA coefficient, the WSL now enjoys two spots for automatic progression to the league stage, but that still leaves a risk that the team that finishes third in the WSL could end up dropping out of Europe in the qualifying rounds, but still be excluded from the League Cup.
Rampling: The League Cup needed fixing. Chelsea and United having to win just two games to reach this season’s final does not give great credibility to the competition. But a solution is tricky. Increasing its fairness required either adding more fixtures for players already overloaded by competing in Europe, or cutting Champions League teams completely. WSL football has opted for the latter.
While the possibility of a new trophy winner in England is refreshing, such has been the unrelenting dominance of Chelsea, City and Arsenal, it comes with the caveat that the best three teams in the country will not be in the competition, slightly taking the shine off. It’s also still entirely possible that whoever does not qualify for the Champions League out of Chelsea, City, Arsenal and United wins it every year anyway.
Anka: The League Cup’s relative newness (the competition began in 2011) allows it to be more inventive with its form as it is less beholden to old traditions. A League Cup that offers a greater chance for the 99 per cent to play for the sort of glory and silverware the 1 per cent enjoy every year is a noble idea. But League Cup prize money is already limited, and it will be harder to attract sponsors/broadcasters to a competition that lacks the biggest teams in the country.
Finding the sweet spot between competitiveness and entertainment is a problem affecting more than one cup competition, both in England and in Europe. Kudos to the League Cup for making a brave decision; it’ll likely take three-to-five seasons before we learn if it was a clever one.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Chelsea, Manchester United, Women's Soccer
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