Manchester City will travel to Old Trafford this season for a third game against Manchester United.
However, there is everything to play in this Derby-Day match-up in the Penultimate Match Week of the Women's Super League.
After Arsenal had surprisingly dropped points in a 5-2 Bonnnissen in Aston Villa on Wednesday, Chelsea sealed a sixth straight WSL title against United. Crystal Palace has already been banned, with the European places the only things that are left to decide.
Arsenal is second at 45 points with two more games. United trail with two points on 43, with City in Fourth, at 39, knowing that they need a victory on Sunday.
The Red Devils, who only need one point to get a Champions League place, have the harder run-in with this derby and Arsenal to deal with on the last day. City is a bit easier, with a united and already reclaimed palace.
Nevertheless, it is expected that United will retain a top three finish by the OPTA supercomputer, with a chance of 78.7% to do this. In the meantime, the city only gets a 21.2% chance of jumping them.
Arsenal, who has one eye on their first Champions League final, does not want to slip away now and the heavy loss for Villa will be a warning sign. With Brighton to play this week and United Still to Play, they have to be careful for a late overhaul.
United set up a brave fight against Chelsea on Wednesday, but in the end she could not prevent them from achieving the WSL title in Manchester for a second consecutive season.
However, Marc Skinner's side will have faith in the welcome of the city, because they have certainly been more of the dominant side in Manchester this season.
United wants to paint the city red
United has won two of their three games against City this season in all competitions (L1), as many victories as they are combined in their previous 13 Manchester -Derbies before this campaign (W2 D4 L7).
In the inverted match, United, the citizens humiliated 4-2 in the Etihad stadium thanks to the Hattrick of Ella Toone.
Skinner's Side also won the most recent meeting in the FA Cup semi-final, with Celin Bizet and Grace Clinton scoring in their 2-0 win to reach the final.
The loss of United against Chelsea on Wednesday was their first defeat of the season of the season (W7 D2). Only once did they lose consecutive home games in the WSL and do this in November and December 2023 against City and Liverpool.
This season, Skinner has brought a huge improvement in the competition and will feel that he has the chance to get one about their city rivals by doing the double about them for the first time in a WSL season.
The citizens compare this season in the 20-game phase with last season and have the biggest negative difference between points won (-13: 52 versus 39), while only West Ham (+9) has made a better improvement than United (+8: 35 versus 43).
The red wall
This season, United has only admitted three goals in their 10 WSL matches and kept seven clean sheets. They last admitted more than once in a home game in their last such match of 2023-24-one 6-0 defeat against Chelsea, which also took place in Old Trafford.
This season they led their way and have the best defensive record in the WSL, which admit only 10 goals, three less than the second best Chelsea (13).
The Red Devils have also held a competition-high 13 clean sheets. In the meantime, City has kept seven, while he has admitted 24 goals.
United has admitted 19.6 expected goals against (XGA), overperforming in defense, while City has had to deal with 23.2 XGA. The latter generally confronted with 203 shots, compared to 194 confronted by United.
Phallon Tullis-Joyce has come to the goal at 65 shots on Target, and according to the expected goals of Opta on Target (XGOT) she has prevented 8.1 goals (eight goals admitted, excluding own goals/fines, while they are expected to admit 16.1).
However, City has never failed to score against United, with 19 goals in general. They have only held two clean sheets against the Red Devils (13 goals admitted), so that they were not closed in the last five meetings.
City was plagued by injuries this season, with some of their most important goal scorers, but they hit the back of the net in their last 12 WSL matches.
The last time she did not score was against Chelsea (2-0) on November 16, and they were not involved in a 0-0 draw for the entire season.
The citizens are the third highest scorers in the WSL, with 42 goals of 40.58 expected goals (XG).
They have had the third largest shots (333), with only Chelsea (397) and Arsenal (343) more than she does. City also had the third largest shots on Target (131), again behind Chelsea (140) and Arsenal (137).
United, in comparison, have scored the fourth goals (36 of 34.7 xg), of the fourth largest shots (274), with 99 on goal.
Hemp to raise a century?
It has been a difficult season for Lauren Hemp, who is a long part of it on the sidelines.
The last time she gave a help to provide Jess Park the goods to drag away and keep their Champions League-Hoop alive, with a 1-0 win in Leicester City.
Despite the fact that in only one third of the city is being played in the WSL this season (597/1800), only Mary Fowler (seven) has more assists than Lauren Hemp (six), who in 2024-25 has the best minutes per assist record in the history of the competition (one 100 minutes, minus 500 minutes).
The previous best was from Karen Carney, who received an assist on average every 109.5 minutes in 2016-17 (15 assists in 1,642 minutes), a marginal better record than the 110 minutes in 2020-21 (nine in 990 minutes).
If the hemp is brought back to the start XI on Sunday, she would start her 100th league for City, but Nick Cushing might be on their care to hurry back.
Before her resignation of injuries, Lauren Hemp became the youngest player (24 years and 60 days) to score 50 WSL objectives in a 2-0 win against West Ham in October.
The young person will be looking for minutes for a summer where she wants to defend her European title with the Lionesses, who missed her this season in attack.
Man utd v man city prediction
With United who wants to do the very first competition doubles over the city, the OPTA Supercomputer has just tipped it in favor of the hosts with 41.7% for the victory.
The city gets a chance of 31.6% to claim the victory, while the chance of a draw is at 26.7%.
With European places hanging in the balance, City has to go to United and strive for nothing less than a victory if they want to take the drama in the last game.