Usually when Manchester City Women face Chelsea Women in the Women's Super League it is a decisive fixture in the title race, but after Gareth Taylor's side's slow start to this season, Sunday's hosts currently sit in seventh and 11 points off leaders Arsenal.
Emma Hayes's team have recovered after they suffered defeat on the opening day, and now five consecutive league wins has lifted the Blues to second in the table and three points behind top spot.
Match preview
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Man City have been very inconsistent at the beginning of this campaign, but last time out they produced one of their better performances to ease past bottom-of-the-table Leicester City.
The Foxes did take an early lead in that game, but the visitors then applied more pressure which broke Leicester's defence on four occasions, with the goals coming from Caroline Weir, Keira Walsh, Lauren Hemp and Laura Coombs.
That victory was only Man City's second of the league campaign, with their first coming back at the beginning of September on the opening day, and Taylor will hope that can start Man City's resurgence this season.
It is likely that the best Man City can now hope for from this season is a top three finish to qualify for the early stages of the Champions League next season, and three points against the reigning champions will put out a big statement of intent from Taylor's side.
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Chelsea extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 10 games on Tuesday evening, when they travelled to Switzerland to face Servette in the Champions League group stages.
The Swiss champions did not know how to deal with Chelsea, who were emphatically six goals to the good by half time, with Samantha Kerr and Fran Kirby each securing a first-half brace, Melanie Leupolz starting the scoring off and Jessie Fleming getting in on the act just before the break.
A quieter second half just brought the one goal for Chelsea which came from Guro Reiten, and the Blues lifted themselves to the top of Group A with a 7-0 win.
That result perhaps strikes fear into Man City, having to face Hayes's side after they have scored seven in a Champions League game, but of more concern to Taylor will be the fact that Chelsea comfortably won in Manchester just two weeks ago.
Erin Cuthbert, Leupolz and Bethany England all scored for the Blues in the FA Cup semi-final against Man City at the end of October, and Chelsea will be looking to emulate that performance and result on Sunday.
Man City have not managed to beat Chelsea in their last 10 competitive meetings which does not bode well for this weekend's encounter, but defeat for the home side could leave them nine points off the top three if Tottenham Hotspur win on Saturday also.
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Team News
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Ellen White returned to lead the line for Man City last time out, after Khadija Shaw started in their previous WSL outing against Manchester United, and the England international will start again alongside Hemp and Janine Beckie in a front three.
Midfielder Jill Scott has continued to fill in at centre-back next to Alex Greenwood, as captain Steph Houghton continues to be sidelined due to injury.
Vicky Losada was fit enough for a place on the bench against Leicester but did not feature in that game, although, she could come back into the starting lineup on Sunday in place of Filippa Angeldal.
Drew Spence came into midfield for Chelsea in their Champions League outing in midweek, but Ji So-Yun is expected to return to the starting 11 this weekend.
Cuthbert, England and Niamh Charles operated as the front three against Aston Villa last weekend, but Fleming, Kerr and Kirby are all expected to continue as the attacking trio as they did on Tuesday evening.
Arsenal's Kim Little has currently overtaken Kerr as the WSL's top goalscorer so far this season, but the Australian will want to get back on top by netting this weekend as she goes in hunt of the Golden Boot.
Manchester City Women possible starting lineup:
Benameur; Stokes, Greenwood, Scott, Stanway; Weir, Walsh, Losada; Hemp, White, Beckie
Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Eriksson, Carter, Bright; Reiten, Ji, Leupolz, Cuthbert; Fleming, Kerr, Kirby
We say: Manchester City Women 1-2 Chelsea Women
Man City are expected to have learnt from their most recent defeat against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, suggesting that history will not repeat itself two weeks later.
However, Chelsea could not be in better form and their confidence will be higher than their hosts, and an away win is likely with the experience of Hayes setting her team up to win big football matches.
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 64.73%. A draw had a probability of 19.1% and a win for Manchester City Women had a probability of 16.12%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea Women win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.83%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.58%) and 0-1 (8.57%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.79%), while for a Manchester City Women win it was 2-1 (4.51%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Chelsea Women would win this match.
