After their respective fixtures were postponed last weekend, Chelsea Women and Everton Ladies will finally return to action on Sunday for a Women's Super League encounter.
The visitors are four points adrift of league leaders Arsenal with a game in hand, while Everton find themselves in ninth position.
Match preview
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Everton begin the new year with a tough fixture as they face the daunting prospect of welcoming the reigning WSL champions to Walton Hall Park on Sunday.
After 10 league games, the Toffees have accumulated just 11 points, which leaves hopes of replicating last season's fifth-place finish hanging by a thread.
They will be hoping the new year represents a change of fortunes, after ending 2021 with three games without a win in all competitions.
Jean-Luc Vasseur will know that if his side are to climb up the table then their home form needs to improve, as the Toffees have only picked up one home victory from their five league games at Walton Hall Park.
A key factor in Everton's struggles on home turf has been a defence that is still yet to keep a home clean sheet in the WSL this season, and their backline will be tested on Sunday by second-highest scorers in the league.
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Meanwhile, Chelsea would have been grateful for the winter break after ending 2021 with three matches without a win.
In their last outing, a 4-0 defeat in Germany against Wolfsburg resulted in the Blues exiting the Champions League in the group phase.
Emma Hayes side will now turn their attention to the challenge of retaining their WSL title, and their hopes of closing the gap to Arsenal were given a boost last weekend as the Gunners fell to a surprise 2-0 defeat against Birmingham City.
That result leaves Chelsea four points behind the league leaders with a game in hand, and the Blues will be confident of starting 2022 on a positive as they face an Everton side they have beaten in their last four meetings.
Although, Hayes will be making sure her side are not complacent, with both of Chelsea's two league defeats this season resulting from away fixtures.
Team News
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Everton are without Nicole Sorensen, who is a long term injury absentee.
Vasseur brought Anna Anvegard into the starting lineup for Everton's most recent fixture, and the Swedish international is expected to feature in the front three on Sunday alongside Toni Duggan and Izzy Christiansen.
Nathalie Bjorn is likely to keep her place in the Everton backline after starting the last three games for the Toffees.
As for the visitors, Sam Kerr is currently on national duty at the Asia Cup, which will be a big miss for Chelsea, as the Australian has top-scored for the Blues in the WSL this season.
With Kerr absent, Beth England may come into the starting XI for Sunday's contest.
Meanwhile, in defence Chelsea will line up with a back three of Millie Bright, Jessica Carter and Magdalena Eriksson.
Everton Ladies possible starting lineup:
Brosnan; Sevecke, Bjorn, George, Turner; Graham, Clinton, Galli; Christiansen, Duggan, Anvegard
Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Bright, Carter, Eriksson; Cuthbert, Leupolz, Ingle, Reiten; Kirby, Harder, England
We say: Everton Ladies 0-3 Chelsea Women
Chelsea have won the last four competitive meetings against Everton by an aggregate score of 14-0, which suggests that the Blues should ease to three points on Sunday, and we think they will do just that to inject some impetus into their title charge.
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 77.53%. A draw had a probability of 14.8% and a win for Everton Ladies had a probability of 7.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea Women win was 0-2 with a probability of 13.4%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-3 (11.11%) and 0-1 (10.78%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.03%), while for a Everton Ladies win it was 1-0 (2.82%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with an 11.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Chelsea Women would win this match.
