St Pölten v Chelsea: Women’s Champions League – live

8.51pm GMT Half-time: St Pölten 0-2 Chelsea Easy work for Chelsea who seem to be on cruise control in Austria against a side who have yet to score, let alone win, in this competition this season. If Sonia Bompastor was being extra critical, she would be disappointed her side are not more than two goals ahead. Let’s see if she makes changes at half-time. 8.49pm GMT 45+2 min: Rytting Kaneryd surely almost scores Chelsea’s third … but Schlüter closes out the tight angle and makes the save. Moments later, Nagy gets in the book for a reckless foul on Walsh. 8.47pm GMT 45+1 min: Brunold has a go for St Pölten, their first of the game, but she is a bit too far out and Peng makes the save. 8.46pm GMT GOAL! St Pölten 0-2 Chelsea (Micario 44) Chelsea get their second goal right before half-time! Rytting Kaneryd wins it back and plays a pass to her Micario, who goes for placement over power as her low shot arrows into the bottom right corner. Updated at 8.54pm GMT 8.45pm GMT 42 min: Kerr again just misses the target as her header goes over the bar. 8.40pm GMT 39 min: Micario whips it towards goal but it is a comfortable enough save Schlüter. That is Chelsea’s 12th attempt on goal compared to St Pölten’s zero. 8.39pm GMT 38 min: A late challenge from Krizaj and she catches Girma right outside the box on the left. She is booked as Micario and Baltimore stand over the freekick. 8.34pm GMT 34 min: From a free-kick, the ball heads to Kerr, who heads it across goal for Girma. The Chelsea defender heads it, it hits the woodwork, bounces off a St Pölten player and back off Girma’s face before going in. The American is almost sheepish as she celebrates the awkward finish but Chelsea have a two-goal lead. But hold on … VAR are quite delayed but Kerr is adjudged to be an offside position and the replay makes it obvious. The goal is chalked off. Updated at 8.36pm GMT 8.32pm GMT 30 min: St Pölten have the chance to press but only three players spring forward and the rest remain in their block as Carpenter and Girma get the ball out of their half with relative ease. 8.31pm GMT 29 min: Chelsea win their first corner. Baltimore takes it and Klein almost scored an own goal before Macario’s shot is blocked and Kaptein fouls Brunold in the box. 8.29pm GMT 27 min: A barrage of attacks from Chelsea continues and Kerr has her third glimpse of goal but Schlüter makes the save. St Pölten’s possession that follows is short-lived. 8.25pm GMT 25 min: Baltimore puts in a dangerous cross from the left but Kerr’s header is wide. 8.23pm GMT 21 min: Anita Asante is on commentary discussing how many goals Chelsea will want to score today. She settles on four and points out the visitors will know goal difference will come into play. Atlético Madrid scored six past them in their first match, Lyon scored three in their second. 8.20pm GMT 19 min: St Pölten on the attack! A nice one-two but Elmore is shrugged off the ball by Girma far too easily. 8.18pm GMT 17 min: Chelsea pass the ball around St Pölten’s box for quite a while before Walsh has a shot but it is an easy catch Schlüter. 8.16pm GMT 15 min: The St Pölten fans have been lively despite how much their team is struggling and after Kaptein’s goal the drum has come out. Can’t fault their spirit. 8.15pm GMT GOAL! St Pölten 0-1 Chelsea (Kaptein 13) It had been coming. Macario finds Carpenter on the right and her cutback finds Kaptein, who wrongfoots Schlüter, before slotting it home. Updated at 8.18pm GMT 8.12pm GMT 10 min: Huge chance for Chelsea! A great ball is threaded to Rytting Kaneryd, who bursts down the right before a cutback for Kerr. The forward can’t quite connect with it properly and her shot is blocked. The scramble in the box continues as St Pölten try to get as many bodies behind the ball and they eventually clear. 8.09pm GMT 7 min: St Pölten finally have some possession and Peneau opts to go long to relieve some pressure, aiming for Elmore, but Girma is there to prevent a threatening counterattack. Updated at 8.20pm GMT 8.07pm GMT 6 min: Thompson picks up the ball after it is given away cheaply and Micario then has her shot blocked. 8.06pm GMT 4 min: Carpenter’s low cross heads towards goal but Schlüter covers the tight angle and a few cheers from the supporters ring out. Micario then attempts a similar ball and Klein flicks the ball away. It goes up and over her but hits the crossbar. 8.04pm GMT 3 min: Ollivier tries to get past Bronze, who is at centre-back, but instead commits a foul. 8.02pm GMT 1 min: An early tame shot from Kaptein that Schlüter easily collects. St Pölten immediately set up in two banks of five out of possession. 8.01pm GMT Kick-off: St Pölten 0-0 Chelsea Here we go! Chelsea get us underway in the cream shirts and green shorts while the hosts don their all-blue kit. 7.59pm GMT The Champions League anthem has been played out and the players are doing their final warmups. We are moments away from the start here in Austria. 7.47pm GMT The pre-match postbag is here. Peter gets in touch: The population of Sankt Pölten – 60,000 – is less than one-third of Hammersmith and Fulham’s. The London giants are the overwhelming favourites but the Wölfinnen (She-Wolves) aren’t gonna go down without a howling fight. 7.42pm GMT St Pölten’s head coach, Laurent Fassotte, was appointed on 23 October, replacing Lisa Alzner, and this match against Chelsea will only be his third in charge. St Pölten have won the Austrian title 10 times in the last decade but are on a dip of form, having lost a match in the Austrian Cup on Saturday – their first defeat in the competition since March 2012. Here is what he said in his pre-match press conference. On Chelsea: We know that Chelsea are a very experienced team with speed, pace and individual quality. It will be a difficult task, but we will fight for 90 minutes. We have to stay focused and concentrate fully on our task throughout the entire match. Our players need to enjoy these moments when they compete against teams of this calibre. 7.31pm GMT Here is what Sonia Bompastor said in her pre-match press conference. On the possibility of starting a weaker side: We’re a team that create a lot of opportunities. We can move the ball high up the pitch so then it’s down to finishing them. The players should be confident; they just need to avoid overthinking. On Peng starting after Hampton picked up an injury against Arsenal: She hasn’t had a lot of minutes, but she played well in the first game against Twente and she is performing well in every training session. It is a positive for her to play in the game and we are confident in her. She has a lot of quality and she will be playing. That is what we’re focused on. And on St Pölten: They are a well-organised defensive unit, very compact. They don’t allow you much space on the pitch and they are aggressive out of possession, so it’s always difficult to break their lines, to break their block. An early goal would be great; if not, we must stay patient. 7.18pm GMT Here is a reminder as how Chelsea have fared in the Champions League so far this season. Sophie Downey’s verdict at Stamford Bridge after four different goalscorers made their mark against Paris FC. Related: Alyssa Thompson adds sparkle to Chelsea’s WCL cruise against Paris FC And Suzanne Wrack on their less than ideal start back at the start of October. Related: Baltimore penalty spares Chelsea blushes after Twente threaten WCL shock 7.07pm GMT Team news St Pölten (5-4-1): Schlüter; Krizaj, Nagy, Ebert, Klein, Ollivier; Elmore, Peneau, Laino, Gutmann; Brunold. Subs: Hermsmeier, Vracevic, Aistleitner, Rukavina, Seiro, Woelki, Matavkova. Chelsea (4-3-3): Peng; Carpenter, Bronze, Girma, Baltimore; Kaptein, Walsh, Macario; Rytting Kaneryd, Thompson, Kerr. Subs: Spencer, Bright, Buurman, Nüsken, Cuthbert, James, Björn, Charles, Hamano, Jean-François, Potter. An expected weakened side for the visitors. It will be interesting to see how the midfield three of Wieke Kaptein, Keira Walsh and Catarina Macario operate. Sam Kerr gets her first start for Chelsea since her injury in 2023 while Naomi Girma will get her first minutes of the season. Lauren James is also back in the squad after returning to training this week and makes the bench. Referee: Franziska Wildfeuer (Germany) Updated at 7.59pm GMT 7.00pm GMT Preamble Chelsea are back in Women’s Champions League action and will be hoping to continue their strong run of form against St Pölten, the Austrian side yet to pick up a point in the competition. Sonia Bompastor’s side started the league phase with a disappointing draw against Twente but made up for it with a 4-0 hammering of Paris FC a month ago. The WSL champions will hope this is the year they finally end their wait for European glory and they will surely be aiming for one of the four automatic qualification spots for the quarter-final to make that goal easier. As it stands, Chelsea are in a knockout phase playoff position with two points separating them from the top four. Kick-off is scheduled for 8pm GMT at the NV Arena. Join me for all the updates, and as always, feel free to get in touch with your thoughts, questions and predictions via email.