One of the most eagerly anticipated fixtures in the Women's Super League calendar falls on the opening weekend this year as Chelsea Women make the short trip across London to face Arsenal Women.
Emma Hayes's side successfully retained their WSL title in May, while Arsenal finished third for the fifth time in the last six league campaigns, which did mean that they entered the Champions League qualifiers.
Match preview
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Jonas Eidevall's side have put themselves in a strong position to progress into the group stages of the Champions League with a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague in the first leg of their second round qualifier.
A dominant performance was secured with goals from new signing Nikita Parris, Kim Little, who recently retired from international football, and all-time top WSL goalscorer Vivianne Miedema.
With many of Arsenal's players representing their countries at the Olympics this summer and the early start to their competitive campaign for the Champions League qualifiers, the Gunners have not had much rest between last season and now, but a positive look at the situation is that Eidvall has begun his preparations with the squad earlier than many of their WSL counterparts.
Arsenal had put themselves in a catch-up race by losing four and drawing two games by the middle of February last season, but an unbeaten run from then until the end of the season secured the last spot for Champions League football.
An extra boost for the Gunners just prior to their important clash against Chelsea will be the arrival of United States international Tobin Heath, who has agreed personal terms with the club after leaving Manchester United at the end of last season.
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Chelsea's pre-season this year has perhaps been the most important from any recent campaign after heavily losing the Champions League final to Barcelona in May.
Hayes's side will need to react well from that disappointment as they go in pursuit of their third consecutive WSL title, and aim to go one better in the most prestigious club competition in Europe.
The Blues' squad is full of strength and depth but has been added to with the fresh arrivals of Aniek Nouwen, a 22-year-old centre-back who can provide cover for Millie Bright and Magdalena Eriksson, and one of England's brightest young talents Lauren James from Man United.
The difficulty for Chelsea is to continue to triumph in the WSL, as each season the league becomes stronger and with the new television broadcasting deal with Sky Sports, each team has more financial backing.
History suggests the winning side only lose one or two fixtures throughout the season, making the opening clash with Arsenal all the more important.
These two London rivals faced each other in a pre-season friendly at the beginning of August, which ended in a 2-1 victory for the Gunners, but Chelsea were the side to secure victory in their last competitive meeting, winning 3-0 in February.
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Team News
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The departures of Jill Roord and Danielle van de Donk left a hole in the Arsenal squad, but that was filled with the arrivals of Mana Iwabuchi, Parris, Simone Boye Sorensen and Frida Maanum.
Securing the signature of Heath could prove to be an important move from Arsenal as they add a proven winner at international level to their squad in their bid to challenge for the WSL title.
Winger Katie McCabe has sometimes gone under the radar at Arsenal, but she is a vital part of the team, registering 11 assists last season from the wide positions.
Chelsea have a wealth of options in every position and one of their most important players last season, goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, has signed a new three-year deal with the club.
The Blues have only brought in two new faces this summer, but they have been busy securing longer-term contracts for their already existing members, including manager Hayes who signed new terms at the beginning of July.
Samantha Kerr earned the WSL Golden Boot last season, scoring 21 goals throughout the season, and she will want to continue those good stats this season, starting this weekend when she comes up against a striker rival in Miedema.
Arsenal Women possible starting lineup:
Zinsberger; Maritz, Williamson, Beattie, McCabe; Little, Maanum; Mead, Iwabuchi, Parris; Miedema
Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Carter, Bright, Eriksson, Charles; Leupolz, Ji; Fleming, Harder, Kirby; Kerr
We say: Arsenal Women 1-2 Chelsea Women
Arsenal enter this game full of confidence from their good performances and results in their Champions League qualifiers, however Chelsea will be more than ready for this opening fixture.
The game is expected to be an entertaining one which is why both teams are likely to get on the scoresheet, but on this occasion, the visitors will have the edge over the Gunners to put their Champions League defeat straight behind them.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Arsenal Women win with a probability of 40.45%. A win for Chelsea Women had a probability of 36.3% and a draw had a probability of 23.3%.
The most likely scoreline for an Arsenal Women win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.57%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (6.55%) and 2-0 (5.46%). The likeliest Chelsea Women win was 1-2 (8.07%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.28%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 3.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Arsenal Women would win this match.
