Chelsea vs Ajax LIVE: Women’s Champions League team news and line-ups ahead of Stamford Bridge quarter-final tonight

Despite a hectic schedule for March, Chelsea have conjured a run of six consecutive victories in which they have scored 14 goals and kept five clean sheets.

They reclaimed the top spot of the Women’s Super League table with a victory over West Ham and progressed to the FA Cup semi-finals and League Cup final.

Ajax meanwhile occupy second place in the Eredivisie and trail pace setters FC Twente by four points in what appears to be a two-horse race for the Dutch title.

With only one league defeat to their name after 18 matches, the visitors will arrive in London determined to put up a fight and attempt to overturn their big deficit.

Cuthbert said: “It would mean everything to get to the final and to go on and win it. But you know, I’ve been at this club so long, it’s all about a process.

“I think we’re in the quarter-finals now. Tough games against a really tough team who have more than proved themselves at this level.

“So I think we’re under no illusions, it’s going to be a tough game tomorrow, but of course it’s hard not to dream a little bit. You are a football player, but at the same time I’ve been so well-drilled under Emma that it is very process-oriented.”

“Emma [Hayes] knows how to get at me, that is for sure, over the course of the time working with her,” admitted Chelsea captain Erin Cuthbert.

“She knows how to provoke me and find a little bit of an animal inside me, and she knows that as well. She knows how to wind me up.

“But Sjoeke has been in brilliant form as well and we’ve needed her at this time in the season. Maybe I’m doing a bit more defensive work than she is but I think everyone’s going to have their moment this season.

“On Sunday it was mine and Aggie’s moment, the week before it was Sjoeke’s and we need everyone to contribute over this period when we have so many games. You have to be ready when that moment comes.”

Ajax coach Suzanne Bakker said: “We know three goals is quite a big difference but as I said last week, the ball is round and everything is still possible.

“We want to show that we are quick to learn and that this is an extra experience for us. We’ve learned about defending inside the box, we will show that we have learned our lesson. “

Midfielder Erin Cuthbert is captaining Chelsea in the absence of Millie Bright and Sam Kerr who are both injured.

“It is taking more responsibility,” she said at Tuesday’s press conference. “Everyone looks to you and your behaviours on the pitch and I have to be super-conscious of what I’m doing, how I’m perceived, when maybe I haven’t really thought of that before.

“I need to take a bit more of a role off the pitch as well than I previously have.”

Emma Hayes hailed Sjoeke Nusken after the German scored her second brace in as many games during Chelsea’s 3-0 first-leg victory over Ajax in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The versatile forward came into the game on a high from her double in the Blues’ 3-1 win over title rivals Arsenal in the Women’s Super League on Friday.

Her double came after England winger Lauren James scored the opener at Johan Cruijff ArenA.

Ajax midfielder, Rosa van Gool, says her team have analysed where they went wrong in the first leg against Chelsea and hope to rectify their mistakes at Stamford Bridge this evening.

She said: “We started very well [in the first leg] and had a big chance early on. Then it became a bit more difficult down the middle and we started struggling a bit.

“But we’ve analysed it and learned from the situation, and I think we will be able to show that.”

During her tenure as manager of Chelsea Women Emma Hayes has won every trophy except the Women’s Champions League.

Her squad has come close a few times and has the ability to go all the way this season but Hayes, who is leaving the club at the end of the campaign, says that winning or losing the WCL will not define her legacy with the Blues.

“Of course if I was able to win the Champions League in my time here it would be another unbelievable achievement,” she said. “But I’ve said it time and time again, for my era to be defined by one competition is probably not what matters most to me.’”

Emma Hayes was simple when summing up what separated the sides when they last met in the Women’s Champions League and highlighted what makes the difference for Chelsea.

“I think we showed our experience for sure,” she said. “Calm, composed, even when it’s not perfect we keep our heads, good discipline.

“I think that was the big difference.”