A WSL Meeting In Merseyside For LCFC Women
After seeing Thursday night's Continental Tyres League Cup fixture against Sunderland be postponed, the Foxes travel north again this weekend to take on newly-promoted side Liverpool for their last WSL encounter this year.
Ahead of Sunday afternoon, here is a detailed look at both clubs, including ticketing information for the trip to Prenton Park...
The Foxes camp
Having made the journey to Wearside on Wednesday, City's penultimate cup match against Sunderland was postponed hours before kick-off due to a frozen pitch in the cold weather conditions at Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground.
Hoping to have built some confidence and momentum against Barclays Women's Championship opposition, this means that Leicester's last game was the 8-0 defeat to Chelsea at King Power Stadium last weekend.
The Foxes will therefore be attempting to right those wrongs when tackling Liverpool at the home of Tranmere Rovers and add some crucial points on the board before the turn of the New Year.
Ashleigh Plumptre remains sidelined until January, whilst it is yet to be confirmed whether the recent injuries to Erin Simon, Abbie McManus and Shannon O'Brien will affect the players' opportunity of featuring on Sunday. However, Hannah Cain will hope to make an appearance after the Welsh forward recovered from an ACL injury.
Talking points
Prior to the match, manager Willie Kirk spoke to the media about the challenge that the hosts possess: “Beating Chelsea was a perfect way of introducing themselves to the Super League again, and I don’t think their performances have changed that much, so it’s surprising they aren't even higher in the league.
"But I think that can be a good lesson for us, that if you keep working hard and producing positive performances, like Liverpool have, then results will start to come."
Defender Sophie Howard also gave her verdict of recent performances, and explained how the team see Sunday afternoon as an opportunity to display an improved performance: “You see in our games how we don’t give up. There are areas that have led to our downfall at times, but our fight and graft has not been the reason.
“We need to trust in the process, Kirk has outlined the style he wants to play, but if you don’t hit it right you’ll get punished, like we did against Chelsea who exploited key areas. But we’ll keep working hard and hopefully you’ll see that going forward."
The opposition
Liverpool rejoined the top division of women's football this season, having won the Barclays Women's Championship under Matt Beard's stewardship earlier this calendar year.
Sunday's opposition started the season with a famous 2-1 victory against current champions Chelsea, in mid-September, but then lost five successive league games before a more positive run of three unbeaten, including defeating West Ham United 2-0 last week.
Sitting ninth in the league standings, with eight points from nine games, the hosts will be no easy task should the Foxes want to take points off an ever-growing Liverpool side.
In the dugout
Matt Beard is the Reds' manager, and currently enjoying his second spell at the helm of the club, having been employed by the Merseyside outfit between 2012 and 2015, when they won the WSL two seasons running.
Beard boasts an impressive managerial CV elsewhere too, with experience of women's football from his time at Millwall, Chelsea and in interim charge of Bristol City.
He also guided West Ham United to the Vitality Women's FA Cup Final in 2019, losing out to Manchester City in the showpiece event at Wembley Stadium.
Last time out
The two sides have met only once this year, in a league cup match at Pirelli Stadium in late October. On the day, Liverpool ran out 4-0 winners with goals from Missy Bo Kearns, Rhiannon Roberts, Rachel Furness and Katie Stengel.
However, Leicester have beaten the Reds, in April of 2021, when a Cain goal in the 72nd minute ensured the Foxes a place in the Vitality Women's FA Cup Fifth Round, where they went on to beat Manchester Utd 3-2, before meeting their fate in a 6-0 loss against Manchester City in the quarter-finals.
Ticket and coverage details
You can find all the information on how to purchase tickets and follow this weekend's WSL match, HERE.
All times GMT.