Preview: Birmingham City Women vs. Chelsea Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Birmingham City Women will play host to defending Women's Super League champions Chelsea Women on Sunday, with the hosts aware that they could be relegated this weekend.

The visitors, meanwhile, sit at the top of the league table with a four-point cushion over second-placed Arsenal, although the Gunners have a game in hand.

Match preview

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Birmingham currently reside at the bottom of the WSL table, and they enter Sunday's contest four points adrift of Leicester City, who are in 11th spot.

Sunday's hosts possess a game in hand over the Foxes, but if they fail to win against Chelsea then they could be relegated depending on the outcome of Leicester's game with Reading.

Darren Carter's side have rekindled their hopes of beating the drop in the last couple of games after they followed a goalless draw against Everton with a 3-1 away victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend.

Veatriki Sarri found the net in the ninth minute to give Birmingham the early advantage before Louise Quinn doubled the lead 15 minutes from time, and though Julia Zigiotti Olme halved the deficit, Quinn grabbed her second goal of the game to seal her team's second league win of the season.

Although Birmingham will enter the contest as massive underdogs, their only home victory of the WSL season came against Chelsea's title rivals, with the relegation-threatened side stunning Arsenal to win 2-0 on that occasion.

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Chelsea could potentially retain their WSL title this weekend if they beat Birmingham and Arsenal lose to Aston Villa.

Whatever Arsenal's result is on Sunday, Chelsea will lift the WSL trophy if they win their last two matches against Birmingham and Manchester United.

Sunday's visitors certainly enter the final two games in a rich vein of form after winning their last nine matches in all competitions.

The league leaders picked up a 3-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur last weekend before they clinched another win over Spurs in a rearranged fixture that took place on Wednesday.

Beth England and Sam Kerr scored either side of a Kerys Harrop effort to guide Chelsea to a 2-1 win in midweek and after scoring more WSL goals than any other side this season, the visitors will believe they have the firepower to beat Birmingham on Sunday.

Team News

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Birmingham welcomed Lucy Whipp and Cecilie Sandvej back to training this week, but Sunday's contest may come too soon for the pair.

Sarah Ewens also returned from a spell on the sidelines to feature as an unused substitute last weekend and the 30-year-old is expected to be included in the squad once again.

Following an impressive display against Brighton, Carter could name an unchanged lineup for Sunday's encounter.

As for Chelsea, they have nearly a fully-fit squad to choose from, with Fran Kirby the only known absentee.

Magdalena Eriksson and Pernille Harder came into the starting lineup for the midweek win over Tottenham, and the pair are expected to feature on Sunday, with Hayes set to name an unchanged lineup.

Kerr netted her 18th league goal of the season in the 2-1 victory against Spurs, and the current WSL top scorer will be aiming to score for a third game in a row at the weekend.

Birmingham City Women possible starting lineup:

Ramsey; Scott, Lo Quinn, Lawley; Cowie, Lu. Quinn, Murray, Robertson, Finn; Pennock, Sarri

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:

Musovic; Carter, Bright, Eriksson, Andersson; Harder, Ingle, Cuthbert; Kerr, England, Reiten

We say: Birmingham City Women 1-4 Chelsea Women

Birmingham would have taken confidence from their second league victory of the season, but we think that they will struggle to compete with a Chelsea side who are currently in imperious form as they look to retain their league title.