Hannah Hampton suffers fresh setback after Mary Earps autobiography fallout | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor has confirmed that key goalkeeper Hannah Hampton will be sidelined for "a few weeks" due to a quad injury, a significant blow as the Women's Super League title race intensifies.

Hampton, who missed the recent Champions League victory over St Polten, with Livia Peng deputising, faces an uncertain return before the end of the year.

It is a fresh setback for Hampton after she was branded “disruptive” and “unreliable” by her former England teammate Mary Earps in her recently-released autobiography.

"Hannah won’t be here, she picked up a quad injury," Bompastor stated ahead of Sunday’s fixture against Liverpool.

"She’ll be out for a few weeks so we’ll see if we can see her before the end of the year, but I’m not sure."

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Mary Earps was critical of Hampton in her autobiography (The FA via Getty Images)

The Blues currently sit just one point adrift of league leaders Manchester City, who are set to face rivals Manchester United on Saturday.

Bompastor reflected on the heightened competition within the WSL, acknowledging the perception of last season's dominance but insisting the challenge has always been present.

"The league is really competitive here, even if I understand from your point of view last season, maybe the competition was not that high because we finished in a really strong position 12 points ahead of Arsenal," she explained.

"But for us, it always felt every weekend was tough and the competition was high, so it doesn’t change anything this season."

Bompastor added: "We know a lot of teams in this league can compete for the title, the title race has been really tough and Man City is now top of the table, but it doesn’t change anything for us.

“We are still early in the season, we know what we want to achieve and we keep this in mind. We are focused and still in a good position."

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Renee Slegers addressed the Gunners' disappointing Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich, where they squandered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2.

Following a 1-1 WSL draw with Chelsea, Slegers expressed her team's determination to bounce back in the upcoming north London derby against Tottenham.

"If we look at where the squad was at after Chelsea, it’s positive, of course very disappointed, but there was a real belief and a lot of good things in our performance," Slegers commented.

"You see the first half against Bayern, we do a lot of really good things, but then of course we’re not happy with the second half – how we don’t manage that."

She continued: "That’s not good enough, really disappointing and we’ve acknowledged that as a collective. Everyone has taken responsibility so that’s good. We had a really good session out on the pitch today with lots of energy, so the players will use this as fuel going into the north London derby."

Elsewhere in the WSL on Sunday, Aston Villa are scheduled to host London City Lionesses, Brighton will face Leicester, and Everton are set to travel to West Ham.

The weekend promises further twists in an already compelling season.