The UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final first leg takes place at 8pm at Arsenal Stadium on Tuesday, March 24.
It’s going to be a big one under the lights in N5 as we look to take a lead into next week’s second leg at Stamford Bridge in our defence of the trophy.
[**Get your tickets for the biggest game of the season so far!**](https://www.eticketing.co.uk/arsenal/EDP/Event/Index/3838?_gl=1*160huha*_gcl_au*MTcwMjkxODk4OS4xNzY3NjE3MzM5*_ga*MTc4OTg5MzIwNC4xNjkyODcxMDg4*_ga_WP53Y0W9VR*czE3NzQyNTc1MDkkbzI1NjQkZzEkdDE3NzQyNTgzNjEkajU1JGwwJGgw)
### MIXED FORTUNES
It’s been an interesting season for Sonia Bompastor’s side, who came flying out of the traps in their defence of the Barclays Women’s Super League title at the start of 2025/26 with six wins from the first seven matches.
There was a bit of a stumble from December to February though with defeats to Everton, ourselves and Manchester City. The Blues most recently let a lead slip to draw 1-1 away to London City Lionesses.
That means they’re currently two points and one place above us in the WSL, but we do have two games in hand. Chelsea have done well in domestic cup competitions, winning the Subway Women’s League Cup final against Manchester United and reaching the quarter-finals of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.
In Europe, Chelsea finished third in the Champions League table to advance straight through to the quarter-finals by way of wins over Paris FC, St. Polten, Roma and VfL Wolfsburg, while drawing with Twente and Barcelona.
Sam Kerr is currently their top scorer this term with 10 goals in all competitions.
### WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
**Slegers:** “It's of course been a very short turnaround from the West Ham game, so we've had two full days to prepare. It doesn't mean that the work hasn't started earlier, so there's a lot of work already been done. But all the details were set in these two days. I think there is an unpredictability with how Chelsea are going to come out and how they're going to play this first game at Emirates, what shape they'll play in, what players they'll have available.
"So we’ll just have to be ready for all scenarios, that's the bigger picture, where we have to prepare for scenarios, but on the other hand, that's also us focusing on ourselves and what we want to bring to the game regardless." [**\- Read every word of Renée’s pre-Chelsea press conference.**](https://www.arsenal.com/news/every-word-renees-pre-chelsea-press-conference-1)
**Bompastor:** “We are playing a big game, a Champions League quarter-final. We will be really ambitious and maintain our really high goals. We know this block is important for us, the business end of the season.
“My main job is to focus on the game plan, the players available and making sure I prepare them in the best possible way to perform in every game.”
### TEAM NEWS
Renée confirmed in her pre-match press conference that Leah Williamson is not going to make this match as she's progressing well but the game comes too early. Our three Australian internationals also won't be involved.
Chelsea will be making an assessment on Aggie Beever-Jones and Australian players Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter are unlikely to feature so soon after the Asian Cup. Mille Bright will miss out but Naomi Girma is expected to return to their squad.
### FACTS AND STATS
We will be aiming to win six consecutive Champions League games for the second time, previously doing so in 2012/13.
Arsenal and Chelsea have recorded the joint-most high turnovers in the Champions League this season (123 each), though we have played two games more than the Blues. Sonia Bompastor’s team rank third for distance of open play sequences starting from their own goal (52m), ahead of us in fourth (48m).
Alessia Russo is the leading goalscorer in the 2025/26 Champions League with seven goals, while she is only the third player across the last five campaigns to score at least twice with her head (2), right foot (3) and left foot (2) after Kadidiatou Diani in 2023/24 and Marie-Antoinette Katoto in 2021/22.
Russo’s next goal will see her set an outright record for the most goals by an English player in a single edition of the competition, with only Vivianne Miedema (10 in 2019/20) and Kim Little (9 in 2009/10) netting more times.
### MATCH OFFICIALS
Romanian referee Alina Pesu has been appointed to take charge of Tuesday’s game, assisted by Daniela Constantinescu and Anita Vad.
VAR will also be in use for this fixture.
**Referee:** Alina Pesu
**Assistant Referees:** Daniela Constantinescu and Anita Vad
**Fourth Official:** Michalina Diakow
**VAR:** Ovidiu Hategan
**Assistant VAR:** Lucie Ratajova
### HOW TO WATCH
This match will be shown live on BBC Two and Disney+ in the UK. A host of other broadcasters around the world are also showing the game live.
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