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Squad Updates and Lineups

Manchester United introduced a single alteration to the lineup compared to the one that began last Sunday’s victory at the Reds. Sandberg comes in for top scorer Melvine Malard, who drops to the bench.

Chelsea make changes to three players in/out of the starting eleven that started the 4-0 win against West Ham. Carpenter replaces Veerle Buurman at the back, Macario comes in instead of Oriane Jean-François in the middle of the park, and Sandy Baltimore takes Alyssa Thompson’s place in attack. The players dropped are on the bench.

Confirmed Team Sheets

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

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

Preamble

Just four games in, and it seems this feels like it could be a decisive fixture. Look! the league positions:

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 if they win this evening. It’s a big ask, even with home advantage, not least because Chelsea haven’t lost in the WSL since late in the 2023-24 season – and they went on to claim the championship. Additionally, Erin Cuthbert along with Aggie Beever-Jones are displaying the sort of form that’s seen them pinging the ball past goalkeepers.

However despite that, United retain belief in their ability to end the long undefeated streak of the top side in the land. Partly because their defence is strong – they have allowed just a single goal in their first four gamedays – and they’ve got impressive strikes in their arsenal too: step forward Hinata Miyazawa, who can launch a howitzer. With Malard sharing the lead among the top scorers alongside the previously mentioned Aggie Beever-Jones, there is ample in-form attacking talent on display for this to be a thriller. Should fate tempt to deliver a 0-0, I can only apologise ahead of time. The match starts in Leigh, Greater Manchester is at 19:30 BST. It’s on!