Women’s Super League updates from the 2pm GMT kick-offOld Trafford picked to stage opening of Women’s Euro 2021And feel free to email Daniel or tweet him @DanielHarris 1.26pm GMT
Manchester City: Roebuck, Stokes, Bonner, Houghton (C), Scott, Stanway, Beckie, Hemp, White, Weir, Walsh. Subs: Benameur, Coombs, Bremer, Toland, Park, Wullaert, Fidalgo.
Chelsea: Berger, Bright, Ingle,
England, Ji, Reiten, Eriksson, Mjelde, Kerr, Cuthbert, Andersson. Subs: Telford, Thorisdottir, Carter, Blundell, Engman, Spence, Bachmann. 12.18pm GMT
This is a colossal, monumental, gargantuan piece of fixture. As things stand, City sit top of the table and have won their last six league games; but that run started after defeat as Chelsea, who are a point behind them with a game in hand, having won their last nine matches in all competitions. And that’s not all, because just two points behind them are
Arsenal, last season’s champions and Chelsea’s opponents in next weekend’s WSL Cup final.
Which is to say that the standard at the top of the WSL is extremely ridiculous, which is to say that it’s extremely difficult to guess – and it will be a guess – what will happen when the best teams play. Both City and
Chelsea have been brilliant at the back and devastating in attack, City slightly better at the former and Chelsea significantly better at the latter. But the match-up and the match-ups tell us more about what’s likely to happen this afternoon than the comparative kickings handed out to lesser lights.