Chelsea sit top of the table, two points ahead of Manchester City, ahead of Sunday's games in the league. For the hosts, it's a completely different story; not only do they need points to avoid relegation but in order to do that, they have to do something they never have done before. 

West Ham have never won a London derby in the Barclay's Women's Super League before. Out of 13 played derbies, they have lost 11 and drawn two. All the while, they have conceded 42 goals. 

This derby takes place at the Chigwell Construction Stadium, on Sunday, March 7th, kick-off time at 15:00 UK time. 

  • Team news

West Ham haven't played a game since before the international break and midfielder Kate Longhurst told the club's website that she thinks they have used their time in training wisely;

"Over the international break, we’ve been working hard and bonding together. It’s something that we’ve always had and there are no problems within the camp, we all want to do well for each other, and we need to translate that onto the pitch now."

The league leaders come from a massive win against Atletico Madrid in the Uefa Women's Champions League in the round of 16, where the Blues hosted the Spaniards last Wednesday. Playing the game for 78 minutes with ten players after Sophie Ingle got shown off with a red card, the Blues fought hard and came away with a 2-0 win after goals scored by Maren Mjelde and Fran Kirby.

Important to mention, is that Ingle played instead of Chelsea captain Magdalena Eriksson, who had taken a slight knock in training which kept her out of the first Champions League fixture in the round of 16. It's yet not known if Eriksson will be fit to play on Sunday. 

  • Predicted lineups

West Ham

Arnold (GK)
Redisch, Flaherty, Fisk, Vetterlein
Pacheco, Longhurst, Svitkova, Van Egmond
Leon, Thomas

Chelsea

Berger (GK)
Blundell, Mjelde, Bright, Andersson
Cuthbert, Ingle, JI, Reiten
Harder, England

  • Ones to watch

Australian central midfielder Emily van Egmond has scored three out of the 11 goals in total West Ham have done during the season. She has also made one assist and on an average per 90 minutes played in the 13 league games she has played, van Egmond's xG says 1.9. Stats according to Fbref.com. The Australian has attempted 21 shots in total with 7 of them on target. She is, the top scorer for the Hammers since England international Rachel Daly left West Ham and returned to the NWSL and the Houston Dash.

For the guests, Sunday's game will be an opportunity for Norwegian international Guro Reiten to make it into the starting XI. Reiten has made 12 appearances for the reigning champions during the season of which she has been a starter in six. The Norwegian played a huge part in the Blues successful last season, contributing with both goals and assists. In the current season, she has shown her passing ability where she has nine assists in total, counting both games in the WSL and in the Champions League. 

  • Previous meetings

The hosts have not yet beaten Chelsea in the league throughout the years in the English top-flight. It was a close call back in December when the Hammers visited Kingsmeadow. Australian striker Sam Kerr's hat trick gave the Blues the 3-2 win in the end. 

In January West Ham suffered an even bigger loss, once again visiting Kingsmeadow for the semi-final in the Continental Cup. This time Chelsea won 6-0, got another hat trick through Danish attacker Pernille Harder. 

This game will be shown worldwide on the FA Player when it kicks off on Sunday 15:00 in Dagenham and at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.

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