Here we preview the new-season curtain-raiser…

When and where?

The Blues will face a familiar foe, Manchester City, at Wembley Stadium tomorrow with the Community Shield up for the taking. The match kicks off at 12.30pm before the men’s equivalent.

The Community Shield

Saturday marks the return of the annual fixture following a 12-year hiatus in the women’s game. The match is contested between the champions of the previous Barclays FA Women’s Super League season (Chelsea) and the current holders of the Women’s FA Cup (Manchester City). The Community Shield is the only domestic piece of silverware that Emma Hayes and her Chelsea are yet to get their hands on.

How to follow and how to watch?

The game will be available to watch live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer with coverage starting from 12.15pm.

If you are unable to tune into all the action, you can support the Blues via our social media channels. There will be live commentary on our Twitter account, plus regular updates on Instagram and Facebook. Search ‘ChelseaFCW' on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date!

Please note this game is being played behind closed doors due to government guidelines regarding coronavirus, therefore, we encourage all fans to follow the match from home.

The history of Chelsea Women v Man City Women

The Blues have collided with our title rivals 19 times in all competitions, with the last meeting resulting in a thrilling 3-3 draw in Manchester six months ago, which ended up being our final league match of the 2019/20 season.

Our opposition have had the upper hand in meetings, just - winning eight in comparison to the Blues’ five victories, and we have taken a share of the points with City six times. The dual is often evenly matched and late goals have turned some of the games in our favour, and against.

The aforementioned 3-3 result back in February proved to be one of the most entertaining games of the WSL era. The Blues fell behind twice, before taking the lead through Bethany England in the 74th minute, only to be pegged back two minutes later as the match ended in a draw. Prior to that, we edged a 2-1 triumph at Kingsmeadow by fighting back from being a goal behind as England and Maren Mjelde netted two late goals.

Chelsea are yet to come up against City in a final having exited the 2018/19 FA Cup and Continental League Cup to them at both the semi-final stage. The season before that the Blues reached the final of the FA Cup after overcoming City thanks to a Fran Kirby brace.

Fresh faces

The Chelsea boss has strengthened her squad ahead of the new campaign with three new additions being midfielders Melanie Leupolz, Jessie Fleming and Niamh Charles.

Tomorrow could be the first opportunity to see our new signings in action.

Chelsea’s opening WSL fixtures

Our two opening games of the 2020/21 season have been announced, with the rest of the fixture list to be revealed at the start of September. The start of the season is also expected to start behind closed doors until it is safe for fans to return to stadiums.

Chelsea begin our title defence with an away trip to Manchester United on Sunday 6 September, before welcoming Bristol City to Kingsmeadow the following Sunday.

Both games have been selected for television. The game versus United will be shown live on BT Sport 1 plus the BT Sport app and kicks off at 2.30pm. Our first home match will be available to watch on the BBC Red Button and kicks off at 12.30pm.

Read: The history of Chelsea Women at Wembley