Manchester City Women must win on Saturday when they travel to London to face West Ham United Women, with the visitors looking to apply more pressure to third-placed rivals Manchester United in the Women's Super League.
Gareth Taylor's side could not enter this clash in better form, having won their last seven games in all competitions, while the Hammers are aiming to bounce back from defeat last time out.
Match preview
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Olli Harder's side suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, meaning that the Seagulls leapfrogged West Ham into sixth spot.
The Hammers dominated possession in that encounter, but they failed to turn that into big chances in front of goal, meaning that they did not give themselves much chance of picking up any points.
That was only West Ham's second defeat on their own patch, though, and their goalscoring record on home soil has been solid this season, having netted 14 times in nine games.
West Ham may have seen more of the ball than Brighton last weekend, but they will certainly have to give up possession to their visitors on Saturday, as Man City have the highest average possession across all of their WSL matches during this campaign.
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The Citizens enter this game with supreme confidence, and they could leapfrog Man United this weekend, as they only sit three points behind their rivals.
However, they would need to score a flurry of goals in East London for that to occur, while hoping the Red Devils lose to Brighton on Sunday.
Man City have been playing catch up all season after a poor start to the campaign, largely due to missing key players through injury, but if they can squeeze their way into the top three for the first time this season before the international break, that will put Taylor's side in the driving seat for the last Champions League spot.
They were due to play Birmingham City last weekend, but an outbreak of coronavirus in the Blues squad forced that game to be postponed, meaning that Man City's last outing came a week-and-a-half ago.
That was a comfortable 4-0 win against Everton, courtesy of goals from Ellen White, Alex Greenwood, Laura Coombs and an own goal from Simone Magill, with goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck also securing her fourth consecutive clean sheet.
Taylor's team have netted an impressive 23 goals in nine away matches, suggesting that they are capable of closing the goal difference gap between themselves and third spot this weekend.
However, it was the Hammers who secured a well-deserved three points at the Academy Stadium earlier in the season, with goals from Dagny Brynjarsdottir and Yui Hasegawa settling a 2-0 win for the visitors.
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Team News
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Harder will set his side up in their usual 3-5-2 formation, with Tameka Yallop and Adriana Leon leading the line, and likely to have to make the most of their chances when they are expected to rarely come at them.
Hawa Cissoko, Gilly Flaherty and Grace Fisk have been a consistently picked defensive trio in recent weeks, and they are all expected to continue in front of goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.
Manchester City have no new injury or suspension concerns, allowing Taylor to name a similar side on Saturday to their last outing, which will include White and Lauren Hemp in a front three with either Hayley Raso or Janine Beckie.
Captain Steph Houghton remains the only injured absentee, with Alanna Kennedy certain to continue in the heart of a back four alongside Greenwood.
With the Women's Euros coming up in the summer, and Man City naming many internationals in their side, the likes of Lucy Bronze, Greenwood and Demi Stokes, to name just a few, will be extra determined to finish the season strongly.
West Ham United Women possible starting lineup:
Arnold; Fisk, Flaherty, Cissoko; Svitkova, Hasegawa, Brynjarsdottir, Stringer, Longhurst; Leon, Yallop
Manchester City Women possible starting lineup:
Roebuck; Stokes, Greenwood, Kennedy, Bronze; Weir, Stanway, Walsh; Hemp, White, Raso
We say: West Ham United Women 0-2 Manchester City Women
With the form that Man City are in it is hard to bet against them, and they are strong favourites to collect three points this weekend.
West Ham will not make it easy for the visitors, and the home side are expected to be well organised defensively, but the Citizens' quality should shine through for them to take maximum points.
Top tip
Sammy Wynne
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 Manchester City Women win with a probability of 80.19%. A draw had a probability of 13.1% and a win for West Ham United Women had a probability of 6.73%.
The most likely scoreline for a Manchester City Women win was 0-2 with a probability of 12.59%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-3 (11.33%) and 0-1 (9.33%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.21%), while for a West Ham United Women win it was 1-0 (2.3%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 12.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 0-2 win for Manchester City Women in this match.
