Following the winter break, the Women's Super League springs back into action this weekend, and the first match of 2022 will see Tottenham Hotspur Ladies travel to London rivals Chelsea Women.
Chelsea enter the contest in second place, while the visitors sit just a point behind their opponents, in third position.
Match preview
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Emma Hayes's side would have appreciated the winter break as they ended 2021 with three games without a win, in their last outing a 4-0 away defeat against Wolfsburg condemned Chelsea to a Champions League exit in the group stage.
As they head into the new year, Chelsea's main focus will be to defend their WSL crown, and it promises to be an epic title battle between the Blues and Arsenal.
The Gunners are in pole position with a four-point lead, and if Chelsea have any hopes of closing that gap then they cannot afford to drop many more points.
They may have failed to score in their last three outings, but home league games usually result in a hat full of goals for the hosts.
In fact, in their four WSL matches at Kingsmeadow this term, Chelsea have netted on 14 occasions, while they have only conceded in goal in those encounters.
Tottenham have impressed this season after collecting 20 points from their ten games as they finished 2021 in the third and final Champions League qualification spot.
Unlike their hosts, Spurs would have been ruing the winter break as they finished 2021 with three consecutive victories in all competitions.
In their last outing, Rehanne Skinner's side edged out Everton, with Jessica Ngunga scoring to guide Spurs to a 1-0 victory.
A strong defence has been the key factor in Tottenham's success this term, with only the top two boasting a better defensive record than Friday's visitors.
Their sturdy defence will be tested on Friday as Spurs look to avoid a repeat of the heavy 4-0 away defeat they suffered in the WSL against Chelsea last term.
Team News
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Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
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Tottenham Hotspur Ladies possible starting lineup:
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We say: Chelsea Women X-Y Tottenham Hotspur Ladies
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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 Chelsea Women win with a probability of 84.99%. A draw had a probability of 10.6% and a win for Tottenham Hotspur Ladies had a probability of 4.42%.
The most likely scoreline for a Chelsea Women win was 2-0 with a probability of 13.45%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (13.01%) and 4-0 (9.44%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (5.03%), while for a Tottenham Hotspur Ladies win it was 0-1 (1.73%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 7.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Chelsea Women would win this match.
