Tottenham Hotspur Ladies begin their 2021-22 Women's Super League campaign at home to Birmingham City Women, which will be played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.
In their first two seasons in the top flight, Spurs have recorded 20 points come the end of the campaign, which was eight better than Birmingham last year, when the Blues avoided relegation by two points.
Match preview
Rehanne Skinner's side faced Arsenal in pre-season as they prepared for the start of the new campaign, but that North London derby ended in disappointment as the visitors claimed a 4-0 win.
However, an improved result came towards the end of August when Spurs emphatically beat Celtic 6-1 at St George's Park, with the goals coming from Asmita Ale, Maeva Clemaron, Jiali Tang, who all netted for the first time for their new club, Jessica Naz and a brace from Kit Graham.
During that game against the Scottish outfit, Skinner's side welcomed back Shelina Zadorsky after she won gold with Canada at the Tokyo Olympics, and the defender will be a key figure this season having featured in all but two of their WSL games last year.
Tottenham did not finish the 2020-21 season well, only managing two wins since the turn of the year, and had a trio of victories in December to thank for their eighth-placed finish.
United States international Alex Morgan was at the heart of those three wins before January against Brighton & Hove Albion, Aston Villa and West Ham United, but she returned to Orlando Pride at the beginning of 2021, putting pressure on new signing Kyah Simon to provide the goals this season.
Birmingham's survival last season was quite a remarkable journey considering the circumstances the players and coaching staff found themselves in, which caused them to send a letter to the board emphasising the inadequate infrastructure which they felt was preventing them from performing on the pitch.
The FA were forced to temporarily relocate the Blues to St George's Park when their pitch at Damson Park became waterlogged, and the season also included the club gifting three points to Tottenham as they lacked a sufficient amount of players, also being deducted points for fielding a suspended player in one match.
This summer has been about the club rebuilding, and in doing so they appointed Scott Booth as manager after he helped the team avoid relegation this summer.
Birmingham Women will play their home fixtures at St Andrew's this year, and the improved facilities have helped the club attract signings to bolster the squad, aiming for a much improved campaign to come.
The game played between Spurs and Birmingham last season was a tight affair, when Skinner's side just edged a 1-0 victory in May, courtesy of a strike from Graham.
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Team News
Amongst the 10 new faces to come through the door at Tottenham this summer, Simon and the permanent signing of last season's loanee So-Hyun Cho are a couple of the standout players who can help Tottenham improve on last year's finish.
Molly Bartrip is expected to partner Zadorsky in the middle of defence, while Maeva Clemaron is likely to make her competitive debut in midfield for Spurs this Saturday.
Young goalkeeper Emily Ramsey is on loan to Birmingham from Manchester United, and she is expected to start against Spurs as she builds experience through first-team football.
Louise Quinn signed for the Blues from Fiorentina this summer and has taken the captaincy straight away with her new club, whose defence has been further strengthened with the arrival of Cecilie Sandvej.
Lucy Quinn has returned to Birmingham following a two-year spell in North London with Spurs, and she is keen to make a positive impact as she wears the blue shirt again.
Tottenham Hotspur Ladies possible starting lineup:
Spencer; Morgan, Bartrip, Zadorsky, Neville; Clemaron, So-Hyun, Percival; Simon, Jiali, Ubogagu
Birmingham City Women possible starting lineup:
Ramsey; Sandvej, Quinn, Lawley, Holloway; Whipp, Finn, Robertson; Quinn, Sarri, Smith
We say: Tottenham Hotspur Ladies 1-0 Birmingham City Women
Tottenham have seemingly recruited well this summer, bringing in experience and a proven goalscorer, and being at home to a side which is likely to be towards the bottom of the table come the end of the season, Skinner's side will be aiming for an important three points.
With the amount of change Birmingham have had to deal with, it could be a slow start to the season for them and it will be a difficult challenge to pick up any points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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 Tottenham Hotspur Ladies win with a probability of 57.49%. A draw had a probability of 22.7% and a win for Birmingham City Women had a probability of 19.84%.
The most likely scoreline for a Tottenham Hotspur Ladies win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.98%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.09%) and 2-1 (9.89%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.76%), while for a Birmingham City Women win it was 0-1 (5.86%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 11% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Tottenham Hotspur Ladies in this match.
