Preview: West Ham United Women vs. Chelsea Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Chelsea Women will look to extend their unbeaten Women's Super League run to five games when they face West Ham United Women on Thursday with the visitors aiming to close the gap to league leaders Arsenal.

The hosts, meanwhile, enter the contest in eighth place, but a win on Thursday would see the Hammers climb to sixth.

Match preview

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With no game at the weekend, the last time that West Ham took to the field was at the end of February for an FA Cup tie against fellow WSL side Reading.

A goalless 90 minutes ensured that the fifth-round tie would head to extra time, and it was the Hammers who prevailed thanks to Dagny Brynjarsdottir's winner.

West Ham can now look forward to a quarter final against third-tier Ipswich Town, but in the short term, they face the very daunting task of a league contest against the reigning WSL champions.

Olli Harder's side have performed well at home the league this season, and they will be aiming to extend their unbeaten home league record to seven matches on Thursday.

The West Ham boss would have been pleased that his team have kept three clean sheets in their last six home WSL contests, but that has not compromised their attacking threat with the Hammers scoring eight goals in those three clean-sheet victories.

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Meanwhile, Chelsea will have to pick themselves up after losing 3-1 to Manchester City in the League Cup final on Sunday, despite holding a half-time lead.

Sam Kerr opened the scoring, but Man City came out firing in the second period with Caroline Weir scoring either side of an Ellen White strike to ensure Gareth Taylor's side would lift the trophy.

There will not be much time to dwell on that defeat as Chelsea quickly turn their attention back to league matters with the Blues looking to close the gap to Arsenal.

Despite trailing the Gunners by an eight-point margin, Chelsea do have the advantage of three games in hand with the first of those taking place at the Chigwell Construction Stadium on Thursday.

The Blues have proven to be a tough nut to crack in recent league matches, having kept four consecutive clean sheets in the WSL, highlighting the qualities that have led to them holding the current best defensive record in the WSL.

Team News

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West Ham are expected to be without the services of Maisy Barker and Grace Garrad due to injury issues.

Despite scoring the winner, Brynjarsdottir started the FA Cup tie against Reading on the bench, but the Iceland international is expected to return to the starting lineup for Thursday's contest.

Mackenzie Arnold is set to keep her place in goal after starting the last three matches for the Hammers.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have confirmed that Melanie Leupolz will not play again this season after the Germany international announced that she is pregnant with her first child.

Erin Cuthbert has missed her side's last two games, and she is expected to miss Thursday's encounter.

Magdalena Eriksson and Maren Mjelde both returned to the squad as unused substitutes for the League Cup final following their respective injury layoffs, with the pair expected to be on the bench once again for the West Ham clash.

West Ham United Women possible starting lineup:
Arnold; Fisk, Flaherty, Parker; Longhurst, Stringer, Snerle, Hasegawa, Svitkova; Brynjarsdottir, Walker

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:
Berger; Carter, Bright, Nouwen, Andersson; Charles, Ingle, Ji, Reiten; Kerr, Harder

We say: West Ham United Women 1-3 Chelsea Women

Chelsea have never lost against the Hammers in the WSL, and we do no see that changing here with the Blues hungry to bounce back following the League Cup final defeat, as they bid to close the gap to Arsenal in a title race that looks set to go to the wire.

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