Chelsea will not take any risks with Lauren James against Austria Wien in the Women's Champions League, as Sonia Bompastor looks to get her ready to face Arsenal on Sunday.

The Blues are overwhelming favourites to open their European league-phase campaign with three points on Wednesday, with the Opta supercomputer assigning them a 93.3% chance of victory over the tournament debutants.

Chelsea's only previous meeting with an Austrian side in the Champions League came last season, as they thumped St. Polten 6-0 in the league phase.

Having gone out at the quarter-final stage last term following three straight semi-final defeats, the Blues are hoping to go further in Europe this term, but rotation is likely this week.

With a huge London derby against Arsenal on the horizon in the Women's Super League, Bompastor has already confirmed James – who picked up a minor injury in training – will be rested.

"She should be available for the game on the weekend, but we don't want to take any risks for the game tomorrow," Bompastor said of James. "She's a bit short."

LJ coming through.  pic.twitter.com/o9wPGCd4P9

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) September 22, 2026

Bompastor also confirmed Erin Cuthbert, Manaka Matsukubo and Aggie Beever-Jones are all back in training, with the latter being the only one of that trio to appear in a WSL match this season. 

"They are training again with the team, so a lot of players and it's good news. Manaka is back in training, not fully fit yet, but it's good to have her back," Bompastor said. 

"It's really good to see Erin back. I'm always happy when I have most of my players on the pitch. It brings positivity around the team and the quality on the pitch progresses.

"It's always good to have that competition in the squad, with everyone happy to be on the pitch together."

Chelsea lost just one of their eight games in the Champions League last season (W5 D2), conceding the fewest goals of any side in the competition (six).

Austria Wien will become the fourth different side from Austria to participate in the Champions League, but those teams are winless in 21 games in the competition (D3 L18) since St. Polten beat Slavia Prague 1-0 in November 2022. 

English sides have won all five of their meetings with Austrian opponents in the competition by an aggregate score of 17-2.