WSL match preview: Spurs v Leicester

Leicester City are the visitors for our first game back at Brisbane Road in 2023. We kick-off at 2pm on Sunday in the Women’s Super League.

Leicester’s WSL story so far

After becoming fully professional in August 2020, Leicester clinched promotion by winning the Women’s Championship with a 2-0 victory over London City Lionesses in April 2021.

Manager Jonathan Morgan was replaced by Lydia Bedford in November 2021 and finished 11th in the Women’s Super League at the end of the 2021/22 campaign to retain their status in the topflight.

This season has been a disappointing one for the Foxes in terms of results, as they lost their first nine league games in a row. However, last weekend saw the team, now managed by Willie Kirk, earn their first league win with a 3-0 victory at home to Brighton & Hove Albion, closing the gap to the Seagulls to four points.

Rehanne’s thoughts

Rehanne Skinner said in her pre-match press conference on Thursday: “They’re going to be a tough test. They’re operating in a way that’s helping them to get results. They’re always physically challenging and make life quite difficult for you in that sense. They’re more cohesive now than the last time we played them so I think it’s one that we need to be ready for.”

Team news

Rehanne also confirmed that Kit Graham is the closest to returning from the long-term absentees. Amy Turner has been training after an illness last weekend, while Ramona Petzelberger will take a little bit longer to come back into the team.

Match officials

Stacey Pearson has been appointed to take charge of Sunday’s game, Sophie Dennington and Ruby Sykes her assistants and Kirsty Dowle the fourth official.

How to follow

Sunday’s game is being shown live on the FA Player. We will also be providing updates on our Match Centre, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages.

Head-to-head

Since 2018, we have met Leicester on five occasions across the Women’s Championship, Super League, and FA Cup.

Of those fixtures, we have won all five, most recently claiming a 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium at the start of the season thanks to long-range strikes from Ashleigh Neville and Drew Spence.