Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor has revealed the reason for the absence of goalkeeper Hannah Hampton from the Chelsea squad.
The Blues play St Polten in the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Tuesday evening, but will be without their England goalkeeper, who picked up an injury in Saturday’s Women’s Super League clash with Arsenal.
And Bompastor told a press conference on Monday evening that it was down to a “small injury in her quad”.
It means that Switzerland international Livia Peng will start in Hampton’s place. The 23-year-old also played in a Champions League match last month – when Chelsea drew 1-1 away at FC Twente.
“The way she is performing – and she hasn’t had a lot of minutes, but she played the first game against Twente and in every training session she is performing well, so that’s an opportunity for her to play in the game, and we are fully confident,” said Bompastor.
“She has a lot of quality and she will be playing. We are focusing on that.”
Sonia Bompastor: Lauren James will be in the squad
There may be a return for England international Lauren James, who has not played since featuring for the Lionesses during the European Championship in the summer. She was forced off in the first half of the final, and played only half of the semi-final due to an ankle injury.
And Chelsea confirmed in August that she would be out of action “for a period of rehabilitation”.
She had also had an injury-stricken 2024-25 season, limiting her to just 17 appearances for Chelsea. She picked up a hamstring issue in April, which led some to question whether she would be fit enough to be part of the England squad at all.
Now, however, Bompastor says James is returning to full fitness – and could play a role against St Polten.
“LJ is getting closer and closer,” she said. “She travelled with us and is in the squad for the match.”
And the manager also hinted that there could be squad rotation on view.
“It’s a quick turnaround between this game and Arsenal, and we’ve only had one training session on the pitch with a full squad,” Bompastor explained. “With some of the players, we are still managing their load on the pitch because the game is important [on Tuesday], so we will need to come into the game with fresh legs.”
