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Team Updates and Lineups

Man Utd have made one change to the starting XI from the one that started the previous weekend’s victory against Liverpool. Sandberg comes in replacing leading scorer Melvine Malard, who drops to the bench.

Chelsea rotate three players in/out of the starting eleven that started last weekend’s victory at West Ham. Carpenter replaces Veerle Buurman at the back, Macario comes in for Jean-François in midfield, and Baltimore takes Alyssa Thompson’s place up front. The players dropped are substitutes.

Official Team Sheets

Manchester United: Tullis-Joyce, Riviere, Le Tissier, Janssen, Rolfo, Sandberg, Miyazawa, Park, Toone, Zigiotti Olme, Terland.
Subs: Middleton-Patel, Rendell, Blundell, George, Awujo, Ildhusoy, Naalsund, Malard, Williams.

The Blues: Hampton, Bjorn, Bright, Carpenter, Kaptein, Cuthbert, Walsh, Baltimore, Kaneryd, Macario, Beever-Jones.
Substitutes: Peng, Reiten, Thompson, Buurman, Kerr, Hamano, Jean-Francois, Nusken, Potter.

Preamble

Only four matches into the season, and it seems this appears to be potentially a pivotal encounter. Look! the standings:

Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
1	Chelsea Women	4	8	12
2	Man Utd Women	4	10	10
3	Man City Women	4	7	9
4	Tottenham Hotspur Women	4	0	9
5	Arsenal Women	4	7	8

Man Utd can go top with a victory this evening. It won’t be easy, even with home advantage, not least because the visitors haven’t lost in the Women’s Super League since late in last season – and they went on to win the title. Additionally, Cuthbert along with Beever-Jones are displaying the sort of form that’s seen them firing shots into the top corner.

However having said all that, United retain confidence in their ability to halt the long unbeaten WSL run of the top side in the land. Partly because their backline is strong – they’ve only conceded one goal in their first four gamedays – and they’ve got impressive strikes in their arsenal as well: step forward Hinata Miyazawa, who can unleash a powerful shot. Since Melvine Malard joint top of the early goalscoring charts with the aforementioned Aggie Beever-Jones, there’s enough firepower on display to make this an exciting match. If fate decide into serving up a goalless draw, apologies are in order ahead of time. Kick-off at Leigh Sports Village is at 19:30 BST. Let’s go!