Preview: Albion head to Manchester United in WSL

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Our look ahead to Sunday night's game

Bruce Talbot

2025-01-25T06:00+00:00

Dario Vidosic and his players face a quick turnaround before heading to Manchester on Sunday. 📷 James Boardman.

Albion make the trip to Leigh Sports Village on Sunday to take on Manchester United in the WSL. Kick off is 6.45pm and the game is live on Sky Sports.

Team News

Albion have no fresh injury worries after Wednesday's League Cup exit to Arsenal and midfielder Dejana Stefanovic came on during the second half to play her first minutes of the season. “It was good to see her back,” said head coach Dario Vidosic. “It’s a case of building her minutes up now but she is another option for us and hopefully a few of the other players will be back in contention soon.”

Dario Vidosic’s thoughts

“It’s a quick turnaround after Wednesday’s game and a long trip again for the girls so preparation is key. There are things which we’ve worked on since the Arsenal game. We need to better on the ball. Defensively, for the first hour or so, we were very good but offensively I know we can do better.

“United are in a good moment – they beat Man City last Sunday and obviously they have some good players. The game at the Amex when we drew 1-1 earlier in the season was a great advert for the WSL and I’m expecting similar on Sunday. We’ll need to be at our best but we’re really looking forward to the challenge.”

Stats and facts

• Manchester United are unbeaten in each of their last seven WSL meetings with Brighton and Hove Albion (W5 D2), though they have drawn two of the last three (W1 ).

• Albion have won just one of their 11 previous games against Manchester United in the WSL (D3 L7), winning 1-0 in April 2021 under Hope Powell.

• Manchester United only lost one of their 11 WSL home games in 2024 (W7 D3) with only Chelsea (6), Arsenal (6) and Manchester City {6) winning more home matches to nil than the Red Devils (5) last year in the top-flight.

• Albion are on their longest winless run of the season (D1 L2) while the Seagulls could lose four consecutive away league games for the first time since October 2022.

• Following their 4-2 derby win on MD11, Manchester United could win four consecutive Women's Super League games for the first time since October 2023 (8 In a row).

• Albion rank fourth in the 2024-25 WSL for both passes made (5400) and average possession (53.3%); only Leicester City (49) average more passes per shot than the Seagulls (45), however.

• In their 4-2 win over Manchester City last time out on M D11, Manchester United recorded the fourth-lowest ever possession figure in a WSL game by a team that won and the lowest figure ever by a team that scored more than twice (26.3%).

• Last time out, Manchester Unlted's Ella Toone became the first player to score a hat-trick In a WSL Manchester derby, while she has only been directly involved in more goals in the competition against Everton (8 - 6 goals, 2 assists) than she has against Brighton (6 - 4 goals, 2 assists).

• With a goal against Liverpool on MD11, Nikita Parris became the fourth player to score in more than 50 different WSL games along with Bethany England (60), Beth Mead (56) and Vivianne Miedema (55).

• Manchester United's Elisabeth Terland could make her 50th WSL appearance against former club Brighton this weekend; only three non-British players have scored more after 50 outings in the competition than the Norwegian's current tally of 24: Vivianne Miedema (52), Sam Kerr (43) and Khadija Shaw (42).

Match officials

Referee - Cheryl Foster

Assistant Referees - Levi Gray, Ruby Sykes

Fourth Official - Stacey Fullicks