Preview: Chelsea Women vs. Brighton & Hove Albion Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Chelsea Women will look to maintain their unbeaten start to the season when they face Brighton & Hove Albion Women on Sunday.

The Seagulls, meanwhile, will be looking for a positive response after losing their last two matches in the Women's Super League.

Match preview

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Chelsea have made a positive start to the defence of their WSL title, having won two and drawn one of their opening three matches.

After edging out Tottenham Hotspur in their league opener, the Blues salvaged a point in their away meeting with Manchester City.

They went on to add three more points to their tally last weekend, with goals from Sam Kerr and Erin Cuthbert guiding Emma Hayes's side to a 2-0 victory over West Ham United.

The Blues are currently sitting in third position and are level on seven points with the two teams above them, who are Leicester City and Man City.

Chelsea will be confident about their chances of claiming a victory on Sunday after winning their last 17 home matches in the WSL.

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Brighton have experienced an underwhelming start to their WSL campaign, having won only one of their opening three matches (L2).

After beginning the campaign with a 2-1 away win over Everton, the Seagulls fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to West Ham United.

Although they bounced back with a 3-0 win over Championship side Birmingham City in the League Cup, Brighton were unable to build upon that result in last weekend's WSL home meeting with Tottenham Hotspur.

Elisabeth Terland scored her fourth goal of the season to give the Seagulls an eighth-minute lead, but strikes from Martha Thomas, Grace Clinton and Ria Percival turned the contest in Tottenham's favour.

The Seagulls, who are sitting in 10th place, will now turn their attention to Sunday's away trip, where they will attempt to claim their first win over Chelsea since February 2021, having picked up just one point from their last four head-to-head meetings.

Team News

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The hosts remain without the services of Catarina Macario, who is still waiting to make her debut since completing a summer move from Lyon.

Hayes has also revealed that Melanie Leupolz is likely to miss out, which may present Cuthbert with a starting opportunity.

After marking her first start of the season with a goal, Kerr will look to find the net for a second straight game when she leads the line against the Seagulls.

As for the visitors, they will have to assess the fitness of their top scorer Terland, who is hoping to recover from a knock in time for Sunday's fixture.

Emma Kullberg and Lee Geum-min could both be brought into the starting lineup after appearing as half-time substitutes last weekend.

Goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley is set to replace Nicky Evrard, with the Chelsea loanee ineligible to face her parent club.

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:

Musovic; Bright, Mjelde, Carter; Lawrence, Cuthbert, Ingle, Charles; James, Kirby, Kerr

Brighton & Hove Albion Women possible starting lineup:

Baggaley; Bergsvand, Thorisdottir, Kullberg; Robinson, Losada, Zigiotti Olme, Pattinson; Terland, Bremer, Lee

We say: Chelsea Women 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Women

Chelsea completed a league double over Brighton last season, and after winning their last 17 home league games, we think that they will make full use of home advantage to claim all three points against the Seagulls.

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