Centre-back who missed League Cup final defeat to same opponents is eager to ensure a different outcome on Sunday

Emma Hayes has described the Chelsea captain, Magda Eriksson, as “a main reason we’ve been a winning team for years” and praised her influence on her return from three months out to help navigate Chelsea to a third consecutive league title and Sunday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Eriksson suffered an ankle injury during Chelsea’s 4-0 Champions League defeat to Wolfsburg in December, ruling her out of action for a significant part of the season. “We knew it was an injury that was going to take a bit of time,” says Hayes. “Naturally, the team was going to lose something. In Aniek [Nouwen] we have a player that doesn’t have the experience but stepped into a space that helped develop the team in some different ways. However, Magda’s our captain for a reason.”

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