Football Bet of the Day: WSL kicks into gear

There’s international World Cup qualifiers taking place all across the globe this weekend, but for Friday’s Football Bet of the Day, we are getting excited about a blockbuster clash, as the Women’s Super League returns. 

Champions Chelsea host challengers Manchester City at 19:30, with the game live on Sky Sports Main Event. We’ve taken a look at this key fixture in search of some value. 

Football Odds

Today's Football Fixtures

Chelsea are the dominant force of women’s football in England, having now won six league titles in a row. The departure of Emma Hayes was meant to give the other teams a glimmer of hope, but Sonia Bompastor has picked up where Hayes left off, and guided them to another invincible season in the league.

Despite that, there was a slight feeling of a missed opportunity, especially in Europe as Arsenal stunned Barcelona to win the Champions League. Bompastor even told the club website: “We did well in terms of trophies and results last season but we were not always happy with the performances and didn’t show as much consistency as I would like. We’re working on giving even more clarity to the players for them to execute what we want them to achieve on the pitch.”

It’s a scary prospect then if Chelsea are aiming even higher having won the WSL so convincingly last season, but the club was also in the news for their controversial split from the men’s team - as they were sold to BlueCo for £200m. 

Chelsea vs Man City Odds

Barcelona were the team that knocked them out of the Champions League, but the Spanish giants have financial issues, and so the door could be open for European glory this term if they can see off Arsenal - who have to be considered surprise winners last term. 

In the quarter-finals, Chelsea beat Friday’s opponents Manchester City as they launched a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down after the first leg to win 3-2 on aggregate. That was the finale of a quartet of games between the pair, all of which took place within a fortnight.

The Blues won 2-1 in the League Cup final and in the WSL to assert their dominance, and back up the 2-0 victory they secured at home in the league over the same opposition. 

After a third consecutive trophyless season and missing out on the Champions League places, a managerial change has been made at City, with Andree Jeglertz now in charge. With Chloe Kelly, Laia Aleixandri and Jill Roord all leaving the club it has been a seismic summer of change, although key attackers Khadija Shaw, Vivianne Miedema and Lauren Hemp remain. 

That attacking strength gives me belief that they will trouble this Chelsea outfit, and can find the net, even in defeat. This is a belting game to get the WSL underway, and our pick for Friday’s Football Bet of the Day is Chelsea women to win and BTTS.

Football Bet Of The Day from Betfred Insights.