The match that will define the title race: if Man City wins, they will have a 12-point lead over Chelsea. A draw would be a nine-point lead, which is somewhat unbeatable. A draw or a loss could see Chelsea drop down to third if Arsenal win their match.
Chelsea needs a win to close the gap to six points on Manchester City and hope that other teams can get points off them.
Manchester City's next game after this will be against Arsenal, who could come into it with their first trophy of the season, the inaugural Champions Cup.
Since the start of last season in the WSL, Chelsea's average per game against the top four has been 2.1. At the same time, Manchester City is only 0.9.
Manchester City have lost to Chelsea only twice this season. The only club this season to be the title leaders has been Chelsea. 2-1 in the opening game of the WSL back in September, and a few weeks ago in the League Cup 0-1. City have learnt from that game, a game where they had the majority of the chances, including an open goal three times, but were unable to capitalise and get the ball in the back of the net.
"We know the title race is probably gone," conceded Sonia Bompastor after Chelsea lost to Arsenal on Saturday. A frank admission from the Blues boss, but nothing we haven't heard before. Bompastor's concession evokes an interesting sense of deja vu.
Back when Emma Hayes told us the WSL title was Manchester City's in her farewell season of 2023/24, everyone believed her. She is a compelling character; besides, it was May, and Chelsea had fallen six points behind the leaders, City, with two games left to play.
Though six points is very different to the possibility of 12 points.
Inside the walls of Cobham, there will be no acceptance that the title is gone, only the determination to wrestle back control by any means. To allow outsiders to believe Chelsea has admitted defeat, though, is a useful play ahead of next weekend's pivotal meeting with the league leaders. The mind games have started.
Chelsea are boosted with the return of Kiera Walsh and Aggie Beever-Jones off the bench, back in fitness against Arsenal. Niamh Charlesmay may be available.
City won their game against London City Lioness, with returning star Kerolin, who was unavailable for the previous league cup clash between the two sides.
City's win against London City Lionesses was their 12th in a row in the WSL, a run stretching back to their first home match of the season against Brighton.
City has the best attacking record in the division, averaging just under three goals per game, and has scored 10 times in the final 15 minutes of matches, another league high.
City are hoping to win their first WSL title since 2016.
Our head coach has presided over six wins from seven games against Man City since she first came to the club at the start of last season, and Sunday’s game could provide us with the starting point for a fightback.
‘Our mentality is to fight until the end, no matter what happens,’ Bompastor continued. ‘We will never give up, and there are seven games left in the WSL. The only thing is that, right now, it is not in our hands, and I think the most important thing is that we focus on what we can control.
‘Man City are leading at the top of the table, and they are in control. We need to put the focus on how we want to perform, going into each game, to make sure we have a better chance to win.’
Bompastor said: 'We have the same squad as we had available for last weekend against Arsenal,' said Bompastor. 'Some players have been training with us this week and getting more fitness to be ready to perform again on Sunday, Aggie and Keira being among them.'
Rebecca Knaak, Manchester City player, said: “We still try to go with the flow if that makes sense. We know this is a big game and that it’ll be a big challenge, but at the same time, we want to approach every game the same way.
“We want to focus more on us, and leading into the game week of Chelsea, we just need to continue doing what we’ve done well so far. That’ll be our primary focus.
“Of course, we’ll prepare for them, but in the end, it’s about us. If we bring our best performance on the pitch, we know we can beat them.
“In this environment, we’re working every day for this goal, so it’s not really that hard to block the noise because we know what we’re focusing on.
“It doesn’t matter if you come in after a game that was great or not; we know we always have work to do, and that’s made us very strong.”
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