Manchester United Women will welcome Everton Women to Leigh Sports Village for Sunday’s Women’s Super League encounter.
The hosts head into matchday 18 in third position, while the visitors are sitting in seventh place in the WSL standings.
Match preview
Earlier this month, Man United saw their seven-game winning league run come to an end with a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield.
The Red Devils responded in emphatic fashion in last Sunday’s away game against Aston Villa, easing to a 4-0 victory thanks to an Elisabeth Terland brace and goals from Grace Clinton and Leah Galton.
Man United extended their gap to fourth-placed Manchester City to seven points, putting them on course to secure Women’s Champions League qualification.
Their focus for the remaining five games will be to mathematically seal a top-three spot, especially as the title appears to be out of reach due to their eight-point deficit to leaders Chelsea.
The Red Devils head into the weekend as one of three teams with an unbeaten home league record, having won six and drawn two of their eight WSL home matches this season, scoring 19 goals and keeping six clean sheets in that period.
Everton will be fairly pleased with their recent run of form after winning three of their previous five top-flight matches (L2).
Their two defeats in that period took place against the current top two of Chelsea and Arsenal, while their three victories came against the current bottom three in the WSL, including a 3-0 win over basement side Crystal Palace last weekend.
Justine Vanhaevermaet, Sara Holmgaard and Kelly Gago all got on the scoresheet to fire the Toffees to their fourth win in six home league games (D1, L1).
In contrast, Brian Sorensen‘s side have won just one of their eight away WSL matches this season (D2, L5), although that solitary victory did take place in their most recent away encounter against Aston Villa.
The Toffees will currently be dreaming about the prospect of claiming their first WSL victory over Man United, having drawn two and lost nine of their 11 previous meetings in the competition.
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Team News
Man United are unable to call upon defender Gabby George, who will serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Marc Skinner is confident Emma Sandberg and Celin Bizet will be available for selection despite being forced off against Aston Villa last weekend.
Terland will continue to lead the line for the Red Devils after scoring six goals in her last five club appearances.
As for the Toffees, Sorensen has confirmed he has no fresh injury worries ahead of Sunday’s trip to Leigh Sports Village.
However, Everton are still unable to call upon Louna Ribadeira, Inma Gabbaro, Aurora Galli and Megan Finnigan.
Gago will be looking to continue her fine form after scoring five goals in nine competitive appearances since joining Everton from Nantes in the winter transfer window.
Manchester United Women possible starting lineup:
Tullis-Joyce; Riviere, Le Tissier, Turner, Sandberg; Clinton, Miyazawa; Bizet, Toone, Galton; Terland
Everton Women possible starting lineup:
Brosnan; Fernandez, Mjelde, S. Holmgaard; Vanhaevermaet, Ladd, Hayashi, Snoeijs; T. Payne, Gago
We say: Manchester United Women 3-1 Everton Women
Man United have won each of their last four home matches, and we think they will continue that impressive run by claiming a relatively comfortable victory against an Everton side that have lost five of their eight away league matches this season.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
