Sports Mole previews Sunday's Women's Champions League clash between Bayern Munich and Chelsea Women, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Chelsea Women travel to Bayern Munich Women on Sunday in their quest to become only the second English side to win the Women's Champions League after Arsenal were victorious in 2007.

The hosts are the only German side that did not win the competition in their debut season, as Frankfurt, Wolfsburg, Turbine Potsdam and Duisberg were all crowned champions at the first time of trying, whereas this year is Bayern's seventh season in the Champions League.

Match preview

Bayern Munich's Lineth Beerensteyn celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates on March 24, 2021 © Reuters

Bayern's route to the semi-final saw them beat Swedish outfit Rosengard in the quarter-final, securing a comfortable 4-0 aggregate win.

Since then, Jens Scheuer's side have suffered two disappointing results, with the first coming in the semi-final of the DFB Pokal Women when Bayern fell to first-half goals from Wolfsburg's Alexandra Popp and Ewa Pajor.

The German giants later tumbled to their first loss in the Frauen Bundesliga this season when they allowed a 2-0 lead to slip away against third-placed Hoffenheim, who fought back to succumb Bayern to a 3-2 defeat.

Another five-goal thriller last time out meant that Bayern were back to winning ways, that time turning out on the correct side of a 3-2 scoreline against Turbine Potsdam.

However, defeat against Hoffenheim has allowed the destination of the league title to go into the hands of Stephan Lerch's Wolfsburg, who are only five points behind Bayern, have a game in hand on the league leaders and the two sides meet in a crucial fixture on May 9.

The top of the Women's Super League is just as tight with Chelsea leading the way, but they are only two points clear of second-placed Manchester City heading into the final pair of games in the league.

A thrilling 2-2 draw was played out by the top two on Wednesday, when Emma Hayes was left relieved that her side "did not lose the title" on that night and still have their fate in their own hands.

Chelsea's players will be hoping history does not repeat itself after the events of 2014, when the Blues were again leading the way heading into the final two games, only for Liverpool to edge past them on goal difference on the final day of the season to win the title.

In their Champions League quarter-final tie, the London side ended their wait to defeat Wolfsburg in this competition after the German side had knocked Chelsea out of the tournament for three consecutive seasons from 2015-16.

Hayes's side ended up with a big margin against Wolfsburg, winning the tie 5-1 on aggregate, however they did rely on two excellent performances from in-form goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.

The English side gained the upper hand the last time these two sides met, when the Blues beat Bayern on away goals in the Champions League round of 32 in the 2017-18 season.

Bayern Munich Women's Champions League form:

Bayern Munich form (all competitions):

Chelsea Women's Champions League form:

Chelsea Women form (all competitions):

Team News

Chelsea Women celebrate on March 31, 2021 © Reuters

First-choice goalkeeper Laura Benkarth sustained a knee injury earlier in April during Bayern's defeat to Wolfsburg, and since then 19-year-old Maria Grohs has filled in between the posts for the German side, and will do so again on Sunday.

Despite the loss of Benkarth, Scheuer's side have been boosted by the recent returns of 20-year-olds Sydney Lohmann and Klara Buhl, who have 17 goals between them this season.

As for Chelsea, they have defensive concerns with Maren Mjelde a confirmed injury absence and there is doubt over the availability of experienced captain Magdalena Eriksson, who missed the top-of-the-table clash with Man City on Wednesday.

The transfers for Samantha Kerr and Pernille Harder are proving to be vital for the Blues squad, especially due to the experience Harder brings to the team having been involved in two Champions League finals with Wolfsburg.

Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Grohs; Ilestedt, Hegering, Wenninger, Glas; Zadrazil, Magull; Lohmann, Dallmann, Beerensteyn; Schuller

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Andersson, Bright, Ingle, Carter; Leupolz, Ji; Cuthbert, Harder, Kirby; Kerr

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We say: Bayern Munich 0-2 Chelsea Women

An impressive away performance against Wolfsburg in the quarter-final saw Chelsea score three away goals and Hayes will be hoping for a repeat performance when they face the German league leaders on Sunday.

Bayern have struggled in the last two games without Benkarth, and have conceded five goals in the two games without their number one, potentially giving confidence to Chelsea that they can secure vital away goals in the first-leg tie.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bayern Munich win with a probability of 44.49%. A win for Chelsea Women had a probability of 33.7% and a draw had a probability of 21.8%.

The most likely scoreline for a Bayern Munich win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-1 (5.48%) and 1-0 (5.35%). The likeliest Chelsea Women win was 1-2 (7.36%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (8.87%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Bayern Munich in this match.