Royals Cup Clash Up Next For LCFC Women
Following last week's postponement, City return to action this weekend, as they prepare for the beginning of their 2022/23 Vitality Women's FA Cup campaign, which starts at the fourth round stage.
Ahead of the match-up in Burton, take a look at how both sides are shaping up...
The Foxes camp
Due to play Tottenham Hotspur in the Barclays Women's Super League, a frozen pitch put pay to Leicester continuing the momentum of beating Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 at King Power Stadium - a first victory in 2022/23.
January loan signing, goalkeeper Janina Leitzig, made her debut in that success, keeping a clean sheet, while the fellow additions of Australian duo Remy Siemsen and Courtney Nevin, as well as Georgia Eaton-Collins, have further bolstered Willie Kirk's armoury within the squad.
The opposition
Reading sit 10th in the WSL table as things stand, four points ahead of Leicester, though they have played two games more than Willie Kirk's team. Other than beating City, the Royals' only other league victory to date came at home to Tottenham.
Since that December victory, the Royals have lost three successive league games, though they did pick up a comprehensive Continental Tyres League Cup success over Coventry United before the turn of the year.
In the dugout
Kelly Chambers is Reading’s long-serving manager and director of football, having taken up the post following her retirement from playing, which included a five-year spell with the Royals between 2007 and 2012, during which she became club captain.
She recently celebrated her 150th league match in charge of the club, in a 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester United last weekend.
Across her tenure, the 37-year-old has overseen the transition from a third-tier, part-time outfit, into a professional side in the top-flight, earning promotion into the Barclays Women’s Championship (then WSL 2) and up to the WSL in 2015, finishing fourth in 2017/18.
Back-to-back fifth-place finishes in both 2018/19 and 2019/20, also reaching the Women's FA Cup Semi-Finals in 2019. The following two seasons led to seventh and eighth place finishes.
Last time out
Reading came out on top in the reverse fixture at the Select Car Leasing Stadium earlier this term, winning 2-1 courtesy of two injury-time goals from Rachel Rowe. Natasha Flint had given Leicester the lead in the first half.
The last time City hosted the Royals, it ended in a goalless draw at King Power Stadium, on 1 May, 2022, as the hosts secured their WSL status for a second season.
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