Fran Kirby's Fight Club

André & Mia (not Magda) Eriksson sit down to discuss Chelsea's patchwork squad getting by Aston Villa and booking a spot in another FA Cup Final! We discuss some performers, including the appearance of Vintage Magda, address #TheDiscourse, and break down the winning goal. Then we turn our attention to the first leg of Chelsea's semifinal against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge this Saturd...

André couldn't wait to talk about Chelsea's outrageous, insane, ridiculous, amazing escape over Lyon so he gets straight into it and brings Mia Eriksson along for the ride. We review an absolutely wild UWCL quarterfinal moment by moment to relive an iconic Chelsea win. We also spotlight some immense performances, and wonder just what the hell is flowing through Maren Mjelde's veins! Pl...

Well, that wasn't great. Maryam welcomes Fran Kirby's Fight Club's adopted cohost Mia Eriksson to the pod to discuss Chelsea's no good very bad day in Manchester. CFCW suffered their second loss of the season in a 2-0 match versus Manchester City. Maryam & Mia discuss what went wrong, how Emma tried to cope, and what it means for the title race. They also do their best to convi...

Maryam & André quickly review Chelsea's 3-1 win over Reading in the FA Cup before shifting focus to the return of the UEFA Women's Champions League! Chelsea have been given the task of getting by Lyon in the quarterfinal round, so we preview the first leg, which will be played in Lyon on Wednesday, March 22. We look at Lyon's history of dominance, but put it in a bit of perspective...

Chelsea FCW took six points from Brighton and Manchester United to put themselves two points clear at the top of the table and with a game in hand! André welcomes Mia Eriksson back to the fight club to talk about it all. First they get into the midweek Brighton match, the loads of rotation, getting over a difficult opponent, and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd's first Chelsea goal! Then we get into the ma...

Well that sucked. Chelsea play a weird, annoying, bad and frustrating match versus Arsenal, having a considerable hand in all three of their goals after going 1-0 up in the second minute. It was a shock and not at all what we're used to from this team. So Maryam & André do their best to talk through it. We give our theories on why this might have happened, whether it's good or bad that it happ...

Our brutal stretch of games began with a 2-0 win over Arsenal. That's 1 down, 6 to go! Maryam & André turn on the mics to discuss clinical Chelsea defeating toothless Arsenal just days after the end of a major international break. We discuss Lauren James' impact, Ève Périsset and Niamh Charles, Jelena Čanković's player of the match performance, and also we cannot stop talking about Sam Kerr! W...

MARYAM'S BACK! The OG pod returns with André welcoming back Maryam, who shares some exciting life updates before we get on with our Q&A episode! We asked for questions on Twitter and got a range of good ones! Thank you to Theo, Mülla, Vince, Carl, Mary an Randy for sending in questions. We discuss a possible minutes restriction for Lauren James, the soon to be very crowded GK situation, psycho...

The fight club is growing! In this episode André welcomes a brand new member to Fran Kirby's Fight Club, Louisa Okolobe from Chelsea Perspective! Louisa joins the pod to talk about Chelsea's 7-0 flawless victory over West Ham. We discuss a perfect outing, Sam Kerr's hat trick, Magdalena Eriksson & AKB's return to the starting XI resulting in the return of a clean sheet, and Ève Périsset starti...

André & Mia Eriksson review Chelsea scoring three goals against Spurs (again), conceding silly goals (again), but coming away with the 3-2 win and all three points. We get into Magdalena Eriksson, who's suddenly gone missing from the Chelsea backline, and it shows. We also discuss Jess Carter's Sam Kerr impression, Lauren James in God Mode and us loving every bit of it, Jessie Fleming at the #...

Aaaaaaand we're back! Maryam is deep in NBA coverage so André welcomed the great Mia Eriksson back to the fight club! We get into the debacle of the 6-minute match versus Liverpool, Chelsea's 3-1 Conti Cup win versus Tottenham (plus Kirby's "shhhhhh") and the 3-2 Chelsea win over Liverpool in the FA Cup. We dive into all the sudden competition within the squad (Zećira Mušović/AKB; Niamh Charles/Èv...

Maryam and André stepped to the mics minutes after #CFCW's 1-1 draw at the Emirates! While the result keeps the table as you were for Chelsea – three points clear but having played a game more than Arsenal and Manchester United – the match was full of highlights and lowlights, a poor (and costly) refereeing decision, a dramatic late equalizer, and a LOT more. So we react to and discuss it all! Ple...

Maryam and André are back with another episode as they prepare for Chelsea FCW to get back to action for the first time in 2023. They start off by discussing Arsenal's recent transactions and whether they think Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall's midfield gamble will pay off in the second half of the season. Then they get into Chelsea, what's been working, what tweaks manager Emma Hayes might be work...

Maryam & André are back with the last pod of 2022! In this New Year's episode we review Chelsea's final match of the year, the 3-0 win over Paris St. Germain, give a shoutout to the first half MVPs, discuss recent contract renewals, share tearful goodbyes to Bethany England, discuss who we'd like to see the club bring in as a second striker, and give our New Year's Resolutions for the second h...

Maryam is under the weather so André welcomed the great Mia Eriksson back to the fight club! André gets the HIGHEST praise Mia can offer before they get into Chelsea's 1-1 UWCL draw against Real Madrid, and a cozy then anything but 3-2 win over Reading in their final league game of the year. We discuss Chelsea's inability to secure three points in Madrid, and ask if it should take away from the te...

The fight club is growin! This episode André welcomes lifelong Chelsea fan Sylvs from Shea Butter FC ! We review Chelsea FCW's massive 8-0 win over Leicester at King Power Stadium. We begin with our thoughts on the XI then chat about Guro Reiten's 1g/4a day, Fran Kirby playing centrally, plus one of the low key surprises of the season: Sophie Ingle 2.0. Then we briefly look ahead to our second awa...

Maryam & André keep the guests coming as the great Mia Eriksson joins the fight club! Mia, Maryam and André discuss Chelsea's comfy cozy 3-0 win over Spurs at Stamford Bridge. We chat Emma's return, a surprisingly somewhat standard 343, the Sophie Ingle + Erin Cuthbert midfield partnership, Magdalena Eriksson at LCB vs. LB, Stamford Bridge vs. Kingsmeadow, and of course Erin Cuthbert's GotY co...

Maryam & André decided to try something new this episode, so instead of us droning on about what to expect from Spurs in our upcoming match, we called in some real experts! N17 Women, a fan podcast dedicated to Tottenham Hotspur Women, joined us for an in-depth look at next weekend's opponent. Caroline, Sian, Abbie and Rachel graciously allowed us to pepper them with questions about their club...

Maryam & André react to Chelsea FCW's 3-1 win over Manchester United WFC at Leigh Sports Village! We discuss Chelsea's rather curious approach in the first half, formation shifts, and Sam Kerr & Lauren James breaking the deadlock and Erin Cuthbert securing the win with a third. We also assess Magdalena Eriksson's progression at left back and discuss the selection of Niamh Charles over Ève...

Maryam & André hop on the mics to discuss Chelsea FCW's 3-1 over Aston Villa. We discuss Lauren James' continued ascent and how important it is, particularly in matches like these. We also discuss Magdalena Eriksson at left back, and what it costs us to play her there, and if there are any solutions to getting the best out of all three starting caliber center backs. We also look ahead to next...

HELLO WE'RE BACK! Maryam & André return to discuss a slew of CFCW wins, including the 2-1 breaking of the Brighton curse! We discuss the different ways in which Chelsea have won their last three matches. We pick out some top performers versus Brighton, including Johanna Kaneryd, Lauren James and Erin Cuthbert, and note why it was so much more than three points. We also chat about the gameplan...

Maryam & André jump on the mics to react to Chelsea's 3-1 win over West Ham. We talk about the fear that crept in after conceding an early goal, then the delight of dominating the match from then until the final whistle. We highlight SUPER FRAN KIRBY, Sam Kerr's confidence, Katerina Svitkova and Eve Perisset's first starts, Erin Cuthbert excelling in midfield, Magda at LB, and the greatness of...

Maryam & André react to a much needed 2-0 win over Manchester City! It was a bit of a frustrating watch at times, but a Fran Kirby goal and a penalty from Maren Mjelde sealed our first three points of the season. We react to the lineup including the surprise welcoming back of Ann-Katrin Berger, the gameplan of tactical suffering, and it all working in the end. We also highlight brilliant perfo...

Well that wasn't supposed to happen. Maryam & André talk about Chelsea FCW's season opener away at Liverpool, that turned into a bit of a nightmare after an early penalty. Liverpool were awarded two penalties of their own to beat the champions 2-1 so we're here to wonder just what the hell went wrong. It wasn't all bad though, we also pick out some encouraging performances that stood out even...

Maryam & André do a deep dive on Chelsea's newest and most intriguing signing yet, Jelena Čanković (and apologize for our suss pronunciations)! Then we review Chelsea's preseason results before both getting extremely giddy at the prospect of Grace Geyoro joining Chelsea. We do some heard vs heart analysis and ask if she's really the 6 we need (hint: it depends!). We also review the fit of two...