On Sunday, the league leaders will begin 2022 with an away trip as Arsenal Women face Birmingham City Women in the Women's Super League.
The hosts sit rock bottom of the WSL table and are still searching for their first win of the season, while Arsenal will be looking to extend their lead at the top.
Match preview
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Birmingham are in a battle to retain their place in the WSL as they head into the new year in the one and only relegation spot.
Their most recent encounter resulted in a demoralising defeat as the Blues succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to relegation rivals Leicester City, which resulted in the Foxes leapfrogging Birmingham in the league table.
That result leaves Darren Carter's side with only one point from their ten league games, and they enter Sunday's contest off the back of five consecutive league defeats.
The hosts have struggled at both ends of the pitch this season as they have scored the fewest goals in the league, while no other team have conceded more league goals than Birmingham this term.
Carter will be fully aware that picking up a positive result against the league leaders will be a difficult task, but the Birmingham boss will at the very least want to see an improvement in performance.
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Meanwhile, Arsenal are currently in pole position in the title race with the Gunners still yet to lose in the league this season.
The Gunners did end 2021 on a sour note after losing 4-1 away to Hoffenheim, which resulted in Arsenal scraping through to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Despite ending last year with a defeat, Arsenal will be looking to start 2022 with a positive result as they look to extend their four-point gap at the top, with Chelsea not playing this weekend after their encounter with Tottenham Hotspur was postponed.
Their place at the top of the tree has been fully deserved, with Jonas Eidevall's side boasting the best goalscoring record in the league, while they also have the standout defence after conceding just three goals in their nine league games.
They will be supremely confident of collecting three points, especially considering the fact that the Gunners have won their last six competitive meetings with Birmingham
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Team News
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Birmingham are without long-term injury absentee Arabella Suttie.
The Blues are expected to utilise a 3-4-3 formation, with Gemma Lawley, Louise Quinn and Harriet Scott making up the back three.
Meanwhile, Lucy Quinn is expected to return to the starting lineup for Sunday's contest.
As for the visitors, they are without the services of Tobin Heath and Leah Williamson due to injury issues.
They will also be missing Caitlin Foord, Lydia Williams and Steph Catley, who are on national duty for this month's Asia Cup.
Vivianne Miedema will be Arsenal's main goal threat as she looks to add to the seven league goals that she has scored this term.
Birmingham City Women possible starting lineup:
Hourihan; Lawley, Lo. Quinn, Scott; Finn, Lu. Quinn, Murray, Sarri; Pennock, Sarri, Smith
Arsenal Women possible starting lineup:
Zinsberger; Maritz, Wubben-Moy, Beattie, McCabe; Little, Maanum, Nobbs; Parris, Mead, Miedema
We say: Birmingham City Women 0-4 Arsenal Women
Birmingham would have preferred a slightly easier encounter to start the year, and we that think they will struggle to trouble an Arsenal side who are fully focused on winning their first league title since 2019.
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 Arsenal Women win with a probability of 95.01%. A draw had a probability of 3.9% and a win for Birmingham City Women had a probability of 1.08%.
The most likely scoreline for an Arsenal Women win was 0-4 with a probability of 13.39%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-3 (13.19%) and 0-5 (10.87%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (1.86%), while for a Birmingham City Women win it was 1-0 (0.46%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 0.1% likelihood.
