The first of three domestic trophies will be decided on Saturday at Derby's Pride Park Stadium as Chelsea take on Manchester City in the Women's League Cup final.

This will be the first of the two teams' four pivotal clashes over the course of the coming weeks, as they have also been drawn against each other in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.

Chelsea and City will compete in the Women's League Cup final for a second time, also doing so in 2021-22 when the London side took the lead before City roared back to lift the trophy with a 3-1 victory.

Both sides are desperate to clinch the first silverware in a season which has been emphatic for Chelsea, who are so far unbeaten in all competitions.

City, on the other hand, have found themselves falling behind the Blues, Manchester United and Arsenal. They sit fourth behind all of those teams in the Women's Super League table, which led to the departure of boss Gareth Taylor on Monday.

City's 32 points from 16 games in the WSL is eight fewer than at this stage last season (40), and six fewer than in 2022-23 after 16 matches (38). In fact, only in 2021-22 (29) have they won fewer points at this stage of a league campaign. 

But will a managerial change with a final just days away prove costly or a stroke of genius by the City hierarchy? Nick Cushing is no stranger to City but is an unknown adversary to Sonia Bompastor.

Tomorrow pic.twitter.com/HrNrm8vT3n

— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 14, 2025

City have lifted the trophy in four of their last five League Cup finals (2014, 2016, 2019, 2022), only losing to Arsenal in 2018 (1-0).

Chelsea, meanwhile, won their first two (2020, 2021), but have been runners-up in each of the last three seasons, a run that will be firmly in their thoughts as they ready themselves for a record-breaking sixth consecutive final.

Chelsea striker Catarina Macario emphasised they intend not to lose a fourth straight time as the Opta Content Agency sat down with her ahead of the final.

"It would be great to change it. It's something that we want and something that we expect to do," she said.

"Playing for Chelsea is such a great honour, and we know that when we wear the badge, we have the standard of winning and a standard of excellence.

"To have not won the past three cup finals stings a little bit harder, and it's something that we want to change.

"We want to win everything, and it's definitely something that's in the back of our minds, so we want to overturn that."

Ready for her first Chelsea final. pic.twitter.com/Ky5PommR0f

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) March 13, 2025

Chelsea's season has been a masterclass by Bompastor, and her winning mentality has taken the team to the next level in all competitions - they are unbeaten in 27 matches this term.

Macario admits the manager's philosophy had a big part to play this season in their design to try and make history by winning all four trophies.

She added: "Sonia is a legend of the game, so yeah, I think she knows exactly what it takes for us to win and for us to get to the highest level, to win all four trophies, and we know that she has that relentless mentality.

"That's something that she brings to the squad, and we really respect her because of that. And you know that we can never rest because of that.

"We can never get complacent because she's always pushing us to be better every single day with the smallest of details. I think it's taken us to a different level. It's taken us to have that unbeaten streak.

"I think that's what's going to be even more important now when we get to the last part of the season. And that mentality is the most important thing, and she knows exactly what it takes to win."

City have lost 11 of their last 17 games against Chelsea in all competitions (W3 D3) and have already lost against the Blues in the WSL this campaign, suffering a 2-0 away defeat.

However, with new additions to the squad in January, and key players returning from injury since the Christmas break, City will be no pushover on Saturday.

City's victory against Arsenal in the semi-final this season was their 50th win in the Women's League Cup, becoming the second side with 50+ victories after Arsenal (55). The side with the third-most wins are Chelsea (40). The Citizens have a history in this competition, and the pedigree of players to compete with the very best.

Bompastor and Chelsea will have to cope without the key quartet of Naomi Girma, Maelys Mpome, Guro Reiten and Keira Walsh, though she has the depth of squad most coaches in the women's game could only dream of.

Macario knows Chelsea need to be wary of the City threat.

The United States star continued: "We know that City can score from any side of the pitch.

"I think we'll just have to adapt to their new players. We'll have to adapt to them having players that have come back from injury, but at the end of the day, we're focused on ourselves.

"We know that we have the squad to be able to deal with that, and we're confident in dealing with it as well.

"I think we have to respect them. But at the same time, be confident in ourselves and focus on us.

"[Vivianne] Miedema and [Khadija] Shaw are world-class players, so they're very dangerous. They bring so much quality to their squad, so they'll make it even harder to beat them.

"We also have a lot of world-class players too. So yeah, it'll be a fun matchup for sure."

City's Vivianne Miedema scored in the 2018 Women's League Cup final for Arsenal against the Citizens. The only player to score in the final for two different clubs is Ellen White (2011 and 2013 for Arsenal, 2022 for City).

City's most in-form player is Mary Fowler, who has netted six goals in 14 appearances in the Women's League Cup.

She scored a brace in the semi-final victory over Arsenal, and should she score in the final aged 22 years and 29 days, she would be the second-youngest Women's League Cup final scorer, behind her current teammate Vivianne Miedema, who was 21 in 2018 for Arsenal versus City.

This will be an exciting match-up between the two sides and could be the start of an incredible dynasty for Bompastor as she strives for perfection and a quadruple in her first season with the Blues.