Chelsea de Kerr ready for FA Cup rebound

Although Barcelona’s 4-0 pounding in the Gothenburg final on Monday (AEST) was a crushing end to their dream of winning the ‘quadruple’, Chelsea can still reach the domestic treble of women’s Super League trophies , the League Cup and the FA Cup.
With the WSL and the League Cup already annexed, Emma Hayes’ side will return to Kingsmeadow on Friday to face an FA Cup fifth round visit from an Everton side who expect a reaction of the English champions.
“It’s like a wounded animal, isn’t it? I’m sure they’ll be ready to fight back,” Everton boss Willie Kirk said Thursday.
âI think the players will feel like they have to pay Emma something back the other night.
“But to say that you want to do that and to be physically and mentally able to do it once the game starts is another thing and I think we can help influence that.”
“We’re going to try to get over them and make them uncomfortable and hopefully a few of them will end up during the game not really wanting to be on the pitch and wanting the season to be over and lick their injuries from that night. in Gothenburg. “
Knowing the Kerr mentality, the Matildas captain will be eager to bounce back and seal her Golden Boot winning campaign by finding the target after missing Sweden.
She has scored 27 goals in all competitions this season, including 21 league-leading WSL goals.
On Monday, however, she failed to find the target and was eventually kidnapped in the second half and replaced by Beth England, the England international, who believes the Blues are now above their initial “heartache”.
“(After) the season we’ve had, we wouldn’t want to be done with it (Gothenburg anti-climax),” England said.
âSo personally I think it’s a good thing that we have Everton because it gives us a quick response time to really make a statement like, ‘look we know we weren’t at our best but we’re going to go back there. ‘and show what we can do. “
Hayes’ team even got a pep talk in Gothenburg from billionaire Russian club owner Roman Abramovich, who just told the team ‘next time’.
But they will be wary of an Everton side that will feature Kerr Matildas’ skillful teammate Hayley Raso.
In the 2020 FA Cup, Everton beat Chelsea 2-1 at Goodison Park in the quarter-finals before advancing to the final.
If Chelsea win, they will not be able to shoot for the domestic ‘treble’ this season, with the rest of the FA Cup postponed until next season, with the final scheduled for December 5.