Manchester City Women will attempt to extend their unbeaten run to 13 games in all competitions when they face Aston Villa Women in the Women's Super League on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the visitors are looking to begin 2023 with consecutive victories after beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 last weekend.
Match preview
Man City picked up where they left off before the winter break, claiming consecutive 1-0 victories within the last week
The Citizens returned to WSL action with a narrow win over West Ham United thanks to Khadija Shaw's second-half strike, and they followed that result with another victory in the League Cup on Wednesday.
With their away game against Leicester City seemingly heading towards a goalless draw, Filippa Angeldal found a 90th-minute winner that leaves them top of their League Cup group with a 100% record after four games.
As a result of their midweek win, Gareth Taylor's side have now won 11 and drawn one of their previous 12 games in all competitions.
Ahead of the weekend's round of WSL fixtures, Man City sit in fourth place, but with the top three all scheduled to play on Sunday, a win over Aston Villa would see them move level on points with Arsenal and Manchester United, and to within three points of league leaders Chelsea.
After losing their final two league games of 2022, Aston Villa would have been pleased to begin the new year with a victory against Tottenham last Saturday.
The Villans had to come from behind after Bethany England scored on her Tottenham debut in the 28th minute, but goals from Kenza Dali and Rachel Daly ensured that Villa were the side to take a narrow lead into half time, and they managed to hold firm in the second period to secure all three points.
Although they remain in seventh place following the victory, they are level on points with the two sides above them in the table - West Ham United and Everton - and with those two teams set to face each other this weekend, Villa have the chance to move into the top half of the WSL.
In their previous two away meetings against top-four opposition this season, they have lost 3-1 and 5-0 to Chelsea and Man United respectively.
While those results suggest that the visitors will face a tough test on Sunday, they do have the chance to complete a league double over Man City after claiming a 3-2 home victory over the Citizens in their first game of the season.
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Team News
The hosts could be without the services of Demi Stokes, who has been unavailable for City's last two matches.
Kerstin Casparij missed the league win over Leicester, but after playing over 60 minutes in the League Cup on Wednesday, she is expected to feature in Saturday's starting lineup.
The two joint-highest scorers in the WSL will both be in action on Saturday, and Shaw will look to move ahead of Aston Villa's Daly and add to her nine-goal tally when she leads the line for Man City.
As for the visitors, they are still without the services of long-term absentees Meaghan Sargeant, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah, Natasha Harding and Freya Gregory.
Remi Allen and Simone Magill have both stepped up their recoveries from injury with the pair beginning to work out on the training pitch, but they are still some way off from returning to full fitness.
Carla Ward, who recently extended her contract as Villa boss until 2024, has confirmed that Rachel Corsie and Ruesha Littlejohn will return to the matchday squad on Saturday, although the pair may have to settle for a place on the bench, with Ward set to name an unchanged lineup.
Manchester City Women possible starting lineup:
Roebuck; Casparij, Kennedy, Greenwood, Ouahabi; Castellanos, Hasegawa, Coombs; Kelly, Hemp, Shaw
Aston Villa Women possible starting lineup:
Leat; Mayling, Patten, Turner, Pacheco; Staniforth, Nobbs, Dali; Blindkilde, Hanson, Daly
We say: Manchester City Women 2-1 Aston Villa Women
Aston Villa will head into the game in a confident mood following their win over Tottenham last weekend, and after beating Man City earlier in the season, they have the chance to complete the league double on Saturday.
However, we think that a City side that have won seven of their last eight league games will have enough quality to record a narrow victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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