photo taken from @lcfcwomen on instagram
Manchester City host Leicester City on Friday (13th February) as they look to go back to their winning streak after their loss against Arsenal last Sunday. The hosts currently sit top of the league with 39 points, winning 13 and having two losses (against Chelsea and Arsenal respectively). Meanwhile for the visitors, Leicester City, they currently sit bottom of the table with a game in hand and on nine points (including two wins and three losses).
Last time out:
They last faced each other on 7th December at the King Power Stadium with Manchester City winning 3-0 on the day after goals from Kerolin and a double from Bunny Shaw.
Leicester City starting 11: Leitzig; Ale, Cayman, Boureille, Swaby, Thibaud (Las 85’), Eiriksdottir (van Egmond 35’), Tierney, McLoughlin (Ayane 85’), Cain, O’Brien (Goodwin 72’).
Manchester City starting 11: Yamashita; Casparij, Rose, Knaak, Ouahabi; Blindkilde Brown (Clinton 64’), Hasegawa; Fujino, Miedema (Kerolin 69’), Hemp (Beney 89’); Shaw.
The hosts, Manchester CIty:
Last game: The side played Arsenal on Sunday losing 1-0 after a goal from Olivia Smith with the assist coming from Mariona Caldentey. After their loss, the gap now closes to eight points after Manchester United won against Leicester on the Saturday prior.
The starting 11 versus Arsenal: Yamashita; Casparij, Rose, Knaak, Greenwood; Blindkilde Brown (Coffey 46’), Hasegawa; Kerolin (Beney 73’), Miedema (Clinton 96’), Hemp; Shaw.
Substitutes: Coombs, Keating, Lohmann, Murphy, Ouahabi and Prior.
Next five games (following this one):
Sunday 22nd February: Sheffield United (H) – Women’s FA Cup
Sunday 15th March: Aston Villa (A) – Women’s Super League
Sunday 22nd March: Tottenham Hotspur (H) – Women’s Super League
Sunday 29th March: Manchester United (A) – Women’s Super League
Sunday 26th April: Brighton (A) – Women’s Super League
Their form in the last five (all competitions):
8/02 – Arsenal (A) – 1-0 Loss (WSL)
1/02 – Chelsea (H) – 5-1 Win (WSL)
25/01 – London City Lionesses (A) – 1-2 Win (WSL)
21/01 – Chelsea (H) – 0-1 Loss (Women’s League Cup)
18/01 – Bournemouth (A) – 0-6 Win (Women’s FA Cup)
Andree Jeglertz’ comments prior to the game:
After not being available for Arsenal, both Mary Fowler and Aoba Fujino return and are available this Friday. Fowler had a knock in training with Fujino following concussion protocols (after the Chelsea win) and he “expects both of them will be available on Friday…We had a full squad in training today except for those with long term injuries.”
The Visitors, Leicester City:
Last game: Leicester hosted Manchester United on Saturday (7th February) with the visitors winning 2-0 after goals from Julia Zigiotti Olme and Elisabeth Terland. Ultimately, the visitors closed the gap to eight points on league leaders, Manchester City.
Their squad versus Leicester City: Clark; Mayling, Kees, Swaby, Ale (Goodwin 89’), Neville; Cain (O’Brien 62’), Tierney, van Egmond, Lehmann; Williams (Mouchon 62’).
Substitutes: Ayane, Keane, McLoughlin, Payne, Thibaud, Walne.
Next five games:
Sunday 15th March: Liverpool (A) – Women’s Super League
Sunday 22nd March: Aston Villa (H) – Women’s Super League
Sunday 29th March: Brighton (H) – Women’s Super League
Sunday 26th April: London City Lionesses (A) – Women’s Super League
Wednesday 29th April: Arsenal (A) – Women’s Super League
Their form in the last five (all competitions):
7/02 – Manchester United (A) – 2-0 Loss (WSL)
25/01 – West Ham (H) – 1-2 Loss (WSL)
18/01 – Tottenham Hotspur (A) – 3-0 Loss (Women’s FA Cup)
11/01 – Tottenham Hotspur (A) – 1-0 Loss (WSL)
14/12 – London City Lionesses (H) – 1-0 Win (WSL)
Comments from Rick Passmoor prior to the game:
Speaking to the media ahead of the matchup, he spoke about having “13 players in and out of the medical room, one with a tear, two because of workload and others just with your mid-season care”. Many players have stayed out of contention with a number of different injuries: Denny Draper is on a workload management (back on grass and hopeful for a return in around four weeks), Celeste Boureille is October for a return (after an operation from an ACL injury sustained over Christmas), with Jutta Rantala returning to training in April.
Janina Leitzig has recently been more involved in training on a modified training session and Emma Jansson would be looking to return from a hamstring injury in mid-March, but other than the long term injuries, he looks for a full squad.
