Chelsea got their hands on the Conti Cup trophy for the first time in the club's history when they won the final against Arsenal with 2-1 back in February. 

The two London teams will have an immediate chance to prove themselves worthy of a spot in this season's final of the tournament when they go up against each other in the first match of the group stage tonight at Chelsea's home ground. The match will kick off at 19:00 BST at Kingsmeadow

  • Team news

This match will perhaps not be the most crucial one these two teams will play against each other this season. However, usually, both teams have had it relatively easy during recent years to reach the quarter-final. With them playing in the same group, this can make it a little bit tougher for one of them. 

Chelsea have a strong squad, and their regular bench contains a lot of quality. So even if head coach Emma Hayes tried to not play her best starting formation, it would be hard to say that a 'second' Chelsea formation weren't strong enough to beat the Gunners

Arsenal have started off their season strongly, and the goalscoring is underway. The bad news for this London team is that six of their players are out due to injuries. Team captain Kim Little seems to be absent as well as her teammates Jordan Nobbs, Lisa Evans, Steph Catley, Lydia Williams and Jill Roord

  • Previous meetings

Apart from the last meeting, that was the Conti cup final, Chelsea's track record vs Arsenal from last season was impressive. January 20th the Blues won with four goals to one when they visited Meadow Park. Arsenal might want to break Chelsea's winning streak toward them, starting tonight. 

  • Ones to watch

There are several players to follow through this London derby in both Chelsea and Arsenal. Although it is a Conti Cup tie in the group stage of the tournament, their line-ups probably will contain names as Samantha Kerr, Ji So-Yun and Pernille Harder (Chelsea) such as Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord (Arsenal). 

  • How to follow this match

Unfortunately, this match is among those that won't be shown live, so the fans have to follow this battle on each team's social media channels for updates of tonight's event at Kingsmeadow. 

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