Birmingham City Women will be looking to claim their first victory of the Women's Super League season on Sunday, when they welcome Reading Women to St Andrew's stadium.
The visitors claimed their first victory of this campaign last time out in the league, and they will see this weekend as a good opportunity for back-to-back WSL wins against a side with only one point on the board at the moment.
Match preview
Birmingham did earn their first point of this campaign before the international break, drawing 1-1 with West Ham United in Essex, ending a five-game losing streak in all competitions.
Claudia Walker had put the Hammers 1-0 ahead in the 54th minute, but just over 10 minutes later Blues centre-back Louise Quinn scored her first goal of the campaign to equalise for Scott Booth's side.
However, that draw was followed up by disappointment in the League Cup just three days later, when Brighton & Hove Albion claimed three points in Group E with a 1-0 win over Birmingham.
Birmingham are the joint-lowest scorers in the league so far this season, along with bottom-placed Leicester City, only finding the back of the net on two occasions, which is a worry for the Blues also considering that they have conceded 12 goals in five games.
Reading cannot boast a much better stat in front of goal this season, as before their outing against Aston Villa, Kelly Chambers's side had not scored a WSL goal this campaign.
That all changed when they welcomed Villa to the Select Car Leasing Stadium and the Royals looked as though they had been in free-flowing form in the attacking third.
Amalie Eikeland, Rachel Rowe and Natasha Dowie all struck in the first half to put Reading in cruise control for the remainder of that game, and that could have given the side the confidence boost they so desperately needed in the WSL.
However, Chambers's team will have to bounce back from a poor result in Group D of the League Cup last time out before the international break, when they hosted Championship outfit Bristol City.
That game looked to be heading for penalties with the sides deadlocked at 0-0, but deep into stoppage time at the end of the second half was the time when Abi Harrison scored for the visitors to send all three points back to the West Country.
With the Foxes currently rooted to the bottom of the WSL, Sunday presents an opportunity for one of these two teams to open a gap between themselves and 12th place, but given their results so far, Birmingham and Reading could play out a cagey affair.
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Team News
Booth confirmed on Thursday that the home side will be without winger Veatriki Sarri this weekend, which is a big loss for Birmingham as the Greek international has featured in every league game this season.
However, the manager also delivered positive news for the hosts as centre-back Cecilie Sandvej will make her return to action after picking up an injury last month, and she will play alongside Quinn in the heart of defence.
After their 3-0 win against Aston Villa, Chambers is expected to name the same starting lineup which began the game against Villa, meaning that the away side will play in a 4-4-2 formation.
Dowie will lead the line with Deanne Rose, while Rowe and Eikeland provide the width from slightly deeper in midfield, as Justine Vanhaevermaet and Brooke Chaplen protect the back four.
Faye Bryson, Deanna Cooper, Gemma Evans and Natasha Harding will be looking to help Grace Moloney claim her second clean sheet of the season, against a side which has not been performing in front of goal.
Birmingham City Women possible starting lineup:
Hourihan; Holloway, Sandvej, Louise Quinn, Finn; Robertson, Scott; Whelan, Whipp, Lucy Quinn; Pennock
Reading Women possible starting lineup:
Moloney; Harding, Evans, Cooper, Bryson; Rowe, Chaplen, Vanhaevermaet, Eikeland; Rose, Dowie
We say: Birmingham City Women 1-1 Reading Women
With both teams having not scored many goals this season, it is likely to be a low-scoring encounter, but Birmingham will see this as an opportunity for another point on the board.
Reading are not expected to lose this tie, having just recorded a really positive result in the WSL, but Birmingham will also be pleased with their draw at West Ham and the two sides are likely to cancel each other out this weekend.
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 Reading Women win with a probability of 56.56%. A draw had a probability of 23.4% and a win for Birmingham City Women had a probability of 20.05%.
The most likely scoreline for a Reading Women win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.35%) and 1-2 (9.79%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.12%), while for a Birmingham City Women win it was 1-0 (6.32%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 6.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Reading Women would win this match.
