Women's Super League champions Chelsea Women will look to maintain their unbeaten start to the season when they face Everton Ladies at Walton Hall Park on Sunday.

The away contest will be Chelsea's first outing since Emma Hayes announced that she would be leaving the club at the end of the season.

Match preview

Everton have struggled to find their best form in the opening stages of the new season, having lost five of their seven competitive matches (W1, D1).

After beginning the campaign with three consecutive defeats in all competitions, the Toffees finally got off the mark with a 1-0 victory over Merseyside rivals Liverpool.

However, rather than build upon that result, Everton have taken just a point from their last two league games, losing 5-0 to Manchester United before drawing 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur.

They suffered another heavy defeat to Man United in midweek as they fell to a demoralising 7-0 loss in the second group game of the League Cup.

Having lost all three of their competitive home games this season, Everton will have their work cut out against the reigning WSL champions.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have established a three-point lead at the top of the WSL table after winning four and drawing one of their five league games.

Since playing out a 1-1 draw, Chelsea have gone on to claim three consecutive victories, beating West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa.

In their most recent outing against the Villans, the Blues cruised to a commanding 6-0 victory thanks to goals from Millie Bright, Fran Kirby, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Ashley Lawrence, Aggie Beever-Jones and Niamh Charles.

Instead of the attention being on Chelsea's performance, it was Hayes who made the headlines following the announcement that she will leave at the end of the season, amid speculation that she will become the new head coach of the USA women's side.

While the news could risk distracting her side, Hayes will implore her players to remain fully focused on Sunday's league meeting, where they will look to extend their unbeaten WSL run to 13 matches.

Team News

Everton's defence has been hit by a number of injuries, with Lucy Hope, Nathalie Bjorn and Elise Stenevik all set to miss Sunday's encounter.

Sara Holmgaard is expected to be on the bench after she returned from injury to play the final 30 minutes of Thursday's heavy League Cup defeat.

Courtney Brosnan, Megan Finnigan, Katrine Veje, Heather Payne and Katja Snoeijs are all expected to return to the starting lineup after dropping out of the side in midweek.

As for the visitors, they are still unable to call upon Katerina Svitkova and Catarina Macario, while Melanie Leupolz and Guro Reiten are also doubts.

Chelsea will hope to have Lauren James available after the 22-year-old missed the win over Aston Villa due to concussion protocols.

After being left on the bench last weekend, Australia international Sam Kerr could be brought into the starting lineup for Sunday's away trip.

Everton Ladies possible starting lineup:
Brosnan; Vanhaevermaet, Finnigan, Veje; Payne, Olesen, Galli, Wheeler; Snoeijs, Bissell

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Perisset, Bright, Carter; Rytting Kaneryd, Cuthbert, Nusken, Charles; Kirby; Kerr, Fishel

We say: Everton Ladies 0-3 Chelsea Women

There is a risk that news of Hayes's departure could distract the Chelsea side, but we think that they will block out the outside noise to showcase their quality and cruise to a comfortable victory over the Toffees.

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