Relegation-threatened Leicester Women will welcome seventh-placed Brighton & Hove Albion Women to the King Power Stadium on Sunday for a Women's Super League fixture.
The Foxes are looking to bounce back after losing their last two matches, while Brighton are also seeking a change of fortunes as they head into the contest off the back of five consecutive defeats in all competitions.
Match preview
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Leicester's start to 2022 has been far from ideal as they began the new year with a 1-0 away defeat against Reading last weekend.
To make matters worse for the Foxes, their relegation rivals Birmingham City stunned Arsenal to claim their first win of the season, and in doing so the Blues leapfrogged Leicester in the league table.
After ending last weekend in the relegation zone, spirits would have been low in the Leicester dressing room, and their confidence took a further knock in midweek when they were thrashed 5-0 by Manchester City in the league cup.
The task of lifting the players falls to Lydia Bedford, who will be reminding her side that they are only a point adrift of Birmingham ahead of a contest against an out-of-form Brighton team.
If they are to trouble the Seagulls on Sunday, Leicester require an improvement in the final third having scored the fewest goals (5) in the WSL, while they have also failed to trouble the scorers in seven of their 11 league matches this term.
Brighton are in desperate need of an upturn in form after losing their last five games in all competitions, and in those fixtures they have conceded 14 goals, while they did not register a single goal in that period.
Concerningly for Hope Powell, her side shipped six goals last weekend against Manchester City, despite the encounter being goalless at half time.
A poor start to the second half saw City run riot as they scored four goals in a seven-minute period to pile more misery upon a Brighton squad already low on confidence.
Despite a poor run of results, Powell's side find themselves five points off the top three, and if they can start picking up victories, they could still find themselves in a fight to qualify for the Champions League.
An away fixture against a side bottom of the WSL represents a great opportunity for Brighton to get their season back on track, and two clean sheets from their four away games in the league this term suggests at the very least that the Seagulls will be tough to beat on Sunday.
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Team News
Leicester have a number of absentees with the likes of Connie Scofield, Kirstie Levell, Lachante Paul and Hannah Cain unavailable due to injury issues.
After injury ruled her out of the first half of the season, Abbi Grant finally made her debut for the club last weekend, but after playing a full 90 minutes in midweek, the forward may drop to the bench as a precaution.
Natasha Flint and Jessica Sigsworth may return to the side after missing the first two fixtures of the new year.
As for the visitors, they are without Lee Geum-min, who is on international duty with South Korea at the Asia Cup.
Emma Kullberg came on in the second half against Man City to make her debut for Brighton, and the defender could come into the starting lineup for Sunday's contest.
Powell is expected to continue with a front two of Inessa Kaagman and Danielle Carter.
Leicester Women possible starting lineup:
Lambourne; Howard, McManus, Tierney, Plumptre; de Graaf, Pike, O'Brien, Purfield; Sigsworth, Flint
Brighton & Hove Albion Women possible starting lineup:
Walsh; Le Tissier, Kerkdijk, Kullberg, Koivisto; Brazil, Whelan, Connolly, Green; Kaagman, Carter
We say: Leicester Women 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Women
With both teams struggling to pick up points, we think that this could be a cagey affair with a single goal deciding the contest, and despite their recent run of poor form, we believe that Brighton will have too much quality for their hosts on Sunday.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Leicester Women win with a probability of 41.34%. A win for Brighton & Hove Albion Women had a probability of 33.79% and a draw had a probability of 24.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Leicester Women win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.84%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.66%) and 2-0 (6.56%). The likeliest Brighton & Hove Albion Women win was 1-2 (7.86%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.66%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with an 8.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Leicester Women would win this match.
