ROYALS CONCLUDE SEASON AT TITLE CHASING BLUES

READING Women will conclude their 2020/21 Women’s Super League campaign against title chasing Chelsea on Sunday.

The Royals marked their final appearance of the season at the Madejski Stadium with their second victory of the calendar year as they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-2.

Fara Williams capped her final home appearance for the club before retirement with a goal from the penalty spot and will lead the Royals out for the last time in her career on Sunday against the Blues.

It has been a turbulent season for Kelly Chambers’ side who had aspirations of finishing in the top four but have fallen short and can only finish as high as sixth, where they currently sit in the table headed into the final weekend of action.

Draws have ultimately cost Reading a shot at challenging the top four, with nine from 21 league matches seeing them draw at least three more matches than any other side in the division.

Goals have also been hard to come by for Chambers’ team with 25 goals in 21 WSL games, possibly due to the absence of Williams for much of the season, as well as Brooke Chaplen who has also missed the large majority of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Sunday’s opponents

Chelsea will be looking to complete an historic season where they are still fighting on two fronts in both the WSL and the Champions

League.

The Blues are just a point behind league leaders Manchester City before their game in hand against Tottenham Hotspur Women on Wednesday night, and a win would see them require to beat the Royals on Sunday to capture the league title. Emma Hayes’ team then have a huge occasion to look forward to the following week when they face Barcelona in the Champions League final.

Former Royal Fran Kirby was the star of the show in Chelsea’ semifinal triumph over Bayern Munich as she netted twice to book the Blues’ place in the final.

Kirby also produced an outstanding display when she met her former club earlier in the season at the Madejski as she terrorised the Reading defence to scored four in a thumping 5-0 Chelsea win in January.

Reading will need victory on Sunday to secure a sixth placed finish this season, but may drop down a place into seventh if Brighton win their final match of the season against Bristol

City Women.