Chelsea Women are aiming to extend their current three-game winning run in the Women's Super League when they welcome a winless Leicester Women to Kingsmeadow on Sunday.
Jonathan Morgan's side have experienced a difficult start to life in the top flight, losing all four matches so far, and this weekend they travel to a side which has only lost one league game at home since the beginning of 2019.
Match preview
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Emma Hayes's side have now seemingly found the title-winning form which they showed throughout last season after an opening day defeat in early September this time around, and a 3-1 win against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend helped the Blues climb to 3rd in the WSL.
The home side were comfortable in that game and were 2-0 ahead by half time thanks to goals from Guro Reiten and Samantha Kerr, before Bethany England settled the game with Chelsea's third of the match in the 80th minute.
After four consecutive victories across all competitions, Chelsea were confident heading into their last outing on Wednesday, when they hosted German outfit Wolfsburg in West London.
A new era for the Women's Champions League began as the newly formatted group stages kicked off in midweek, and after Kerr had given last year's finalists a 12th-minute lead, England and Pernille Harder earned a point for Chelsea, who drew the game level from 3-1 down.
Hayes was full of praise for her players after they showed character to earn a point on Wednesday evening, and she was pleased with the dominance that Chelsea claimed against Wolfsburg, who have historically been a tough test for the WSL outfit.
That will only boost this already confident Chelsea group heading into this weekend's league action, and the expectation to put on another high-quality performance is evident, considering Leicester's poor start to this season.
The Foxes faced a strong and confident Tottenham Hotspur side last time out, and Spurs ensured they took three points back to North London with a 2-0 win over Leicester.
Morgan's side failed to register a single shot on target last Sunday, the first time this season that Leicester's attacking threat has been completely nullified.
Despite still being without a point on the board in their debut WSL campaign, Morgan has said before Sunday's encounter that the squad are remaining positive and that everyone around the club understands that this is a transitional year so it may take time to find their feet in the top flight.
This weekend's match is likely to be dominated by the hosts, but Leicester will be looking to keep Chelsea at bay with a strong defensive shape - although, no team has managed to stop the Blues from scoring so far this season so a major task lies ahead of the Foxes.
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Team News
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Millie Bright, Jessica Carter and Magdalena Eriksson have started as a back three in every league game so far this season and Hayes is certain to stick with the defensive trio on Sunday.
England, Kerr and Harder all got on the scoresheet in the Champions League on Wednesday, but Fran Kirby is likely to come back into the starting lineup in place of England.
Niamh Charles had a positive impact on the side when she came off the bench against Wolfsburg, and she might have earned a place in the starting 11, potentially swapping with Cuthbert as the right-wing-back.
Morgan attempted to change Leicester's fortunes by making three changes to the starting team last time out, but the manager could opt for a more defensive lineup taking into consideration the opposition on Sunday.
Jemma Purfield, Ashleigh Plumptre, Abbie McManus, Hannah Cain and Georgia Brougham could operate as a back five, with Samantha Tierney and Molly Pike sitting in front of them as the central midfield pair.
Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Eriksson, Carter, Bright; Reiten, Leupolz, Ingle, Charles; Harder, Kerr, Kirby
Leicester Women possible starting lineup:
Levell; Purfield, Plumptre, McManus, Cain, Brougham; Pike, Tierney, Flint; Sigsworth, O'Brien
We say: Chelsea Women 4-0 Leicester Women
Chelsea are strong favourites for this encounter on Sunday, and they are also in fine form in front of goal, scoring at least three goals in their last five outings across all competitions.
It is likely that however Leicester setup defensively, Chelsea will be able to break the visitors down and find a route to goal, and the home side should also be able to limit the Foxes to very few chances on Berger's goal.
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 Chelsea Women win with a probability of 82.25%. A draw had a probability of 11.7% and a win for Leicester Women had a probability of 6.07%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea Women win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.48%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (11.16%) and 4-0 (8.14%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (5.48%), while for a Leicester Women win it was 1-2 (1.91%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 11.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for Chelsea Women in this match.
